Sony Settles XCP Class Action Lawsuit

By Michael Santo
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

In what may be a sign that the furor is dying down, Sony BMG has apparently reached a settlement in the XCP copy protection class action lawsuit, according to papers filed in a New York court Wednesday.

During November a number of individuals filed cases against Sony at courts across America. These cases were granted class action status Dec. 1.

In the settlement filing, Sony states that it will immediately recall all XCP CDs and replace them with non-content-protected CDs. It has also agreed to offer incentives to U.S. customers to “ensure that XCP CDs are promptly removed from the market.” Sony first released details about its CD recall scheme in late November.

Customers who exchange their XCP CD can either download three albums from a list of over 200 titles, or claim a cash payment of $7.50 and a free download of one album. To claim this compensation, customers must return their XCP CDs to Sony or provide the company with a receipt showing they returned or exchanged the CD at a retailer after Nov. 14.

Sony is not recalling MediaMax CDs, but has agreed to compensate buyers of these albums by allowing them to download one free album, as well as offering them MP3 versions of the music on the MediaMax album. Source: News.com

Full details of the proposed settlement are available at the Sunbelt Software (developers of the copy protection) blog. The settlement still must be approved by the court.

We Say: The Electronic Frontier Foundation has filed its own lawsuit, and this is unaffected by this decision. Additionally, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott sued Sony in November, citing his state’s anti-spyware statues. However, it does look like there’s some real progress being made finally. Hopefully this settlement is less buggy than Sony’s uninstallers.