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Analyst: Geohotz suit will deter hackers

"It's a win for Sony."

News this morning that Sony has secured a "permanent injunction" over George Hotz will deter the hacking community from taking another pass at the PlayStation 3, so says industry analyst Michael Pachter.

The Wedbush Morgan mouthpiece, who was formerly a lawyer, told Eurogamer that the settlement was exactly the outcome Sony would have been looking for.

"Yes, it's a win for Sony," he said.

"'Permanent injunction' means that Geohotz won't do it anymore. That's all Sony really wanted, and they want to show other hackers that they will prosecute them as well.

"I'm confident that most hackers will see the potential for litigation - and the costs involved - as a deterrent, at least in those countries that have laws respecting intellectual property rights."

As revealed this morning, the Geohotz case was settled out of court late last month, with Hotz accepting an undefined "permanent injunction" for his notorious PlayStation 3 security breach earlier this year.

"Sony is glad to put this litigation behind us," commented Sony counsel Riley Russell.

"Our motivation for bringing this litigation was to protect our intellectual property and our consumers. We believe this settlement and the permanent injunction achieve this goal."

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