Dude Buys PS4 Dev Kit With Data From Closed Sleeping Dogs Studio

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I didn't think you could auction off dev kits full of data at a bankruptcy auction but it happened. This dev kit has 800GB of data on it from United Front Games, the developers of Sleeping Dogs. Reading through the reddit thread, it looks like the guy is going to try to access the data to see what is on the machine. What would you do with it?
 
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Erase it to avoid costly legal complications

Who's going to sue if the studio shut down? Unless the IP was bought by someone else, I don't think it will matter. Plus it's their job to secure wipe anything before reselling, or destroy if they can't and it contains critical data like this....
 
Who's going to sue if the studio shut down? Unless the IP was bought by someone else, I don't think it will matter. Plus it's their job to secure wipe anything before reselling, or destroy if they can't and it contains critical data like this....

According to some people on other sites "Not sure how accurate it is - Comments off of Kotaku" those units are under some pretty heavy NDAs and are actually leased to the studios requiring them to return the equipment back to Sony.

They were also stating something about the license on the unit had to be renewed every 6 months for security purposes.
 
According to some people on other sites "Not sure how accurate it is - Comments off of Kotaku" those units are under some pretty heavy NDAs and are actually leased to the studios requiring them to return the equipment back to Sony.

If Sony didn't line up in the bankruptcy proceedings to get their equipment back (or didn't follow procedural requirements with the lease), the bankruptcy administrator can sell it, and the buyer gets clean title and will not need to return the equipment to Sony.
 
I'd sift through it to make sure it didn't contain any personal data, and then dump it online in a huge torrent for those more capable than I in game modding etc. to maybe do something cool with it.
 
For those claiming suit will happen, this person legally obtained this hardware and all contained. He has legal access to all that's on it.
 
For those claiming suit will happen, this person legally obtained this hardware and all contained. He has legal access to all that's on it.

You say that like it would prevent a large corporation with a deep legal team from sending a threatening letter and dragging the guy into a costly (for him) court battle that they could drag on and on. Wouldn't be great PR for them but that hasn't stopped other companies from doing it.

That being said all the data on the drive is encrypted so he has no clue what any of it is and probably no way of finding out since Sony likely has a list of the encryption keys for the studio in question and could just blacklist them. Even if he turns the dev system over to another studio (as he has planned to) I don't see how they could get anything off of it without Sony's explicit cooperation in the matter.

And just because he legally bought the system doesn't mean he owns any of the rights to the data on the machine. Defunct or not the copyrights to all of that still belong to the studio (or whoever buys them).
 
You say that like it would prevent a large corporation with a deep legal team from sending a threatening letter and dragging the guy into a costly (for him) court battle that they could drag on and on. Wouldn't be great PR for them but that hasn't stopped other companies from doing it.

That being said all the data on the drive is encrypted so he has no clue what any of it is and probably no way of finding out since Sony likely has a list of the encryption keys for the studio in question and could just blacklist them. Even if he turns the dev system over to another studio (as he has planned to) I don't see how they could get anything off of it without Sony's explicit cooperation in the matter.

And just because he legally bought the system doesn't mean he owns any of the rights to the data on the machine. Defunct or not the copyrights to all of that still belong to the studio (or whoever buys them).

It is like buying a car stereo and then finding out it was stolen and changed hands 3 times. Nothing bad happens to you (unless you are aware that it is stolen and can be proven) it just gets taken away and you are out money.
 
Check it out for personal knowledge. Then, get with Sony to see how they'd like to proceed. I'd probably ask if I could get a tour of their development studios, etc.. It'd be some fascinating stuff. But, I'd do the right thing. Just want to learn more about it. Maybe have them delete their information and keep the dev-kit.
 
Once the lawyers get involved the owner will be decided by who has the largest stock pile of $$$$. $ony can drag into the courts claim after claim of some bull crap legal view or views that they own the code on it and the auction house had no right to sell or transfer ownership of $ony's intellectual property - EULA.
 
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Once the lawyers get involved the owner will be decided by who has the largest stock pile of $$$$. $ony can drag into the courts claim after claim of some bull crap legal view or views that they own the code on it and the auction house had no right to sell or transfer ownership of $ony's intellectual property - EULA.

Lawyers get involved for what? The guy bought it free and clear. If Sony wants it back they should pony up some big bucks.
 
first off I wouldnt have announced my find to the world. just a dumbass mmove in my opinion. Second, I would contact emu developers with data that may help them move forward in the emulation world. but thats just me.
 
If you buy an old laptop loaded with mp3's, you do not gain the right to even play them.
 
For those claiming suit will happen, this person legally obtained this hardware and all contained. He has legal access to all that's on it.
So someone borrows your car, and then unknown to you sells it to a third party then that third party has legal access to everything that was in the car? If that is really how it works in the us legal system then that's just fucked.
 
The guy is already boned talking about it. I wouldn't be able be surprised if it phones home if he continues to play with it and connect to the Internet.
 
So someone borrows your car, and then unknown to you sells it to a third party then that third party has legal access to everything that was in the car? If that is really how it works in the us legal system then that's just fucked.

This is just a dumb anecdote. it would be like someone bought a car, and then the person found $3000 in the trunk. That money is legally theirs.
 
This is just a dumb anecdote. it would be like someone bought a car, and then the person found $3000 in the trunk. That money is legally theirs.
First you should know the difference between an anecdote and an analogy. The developers don't own the devkits, sony leases it to them. So they can't legally sell it.
 
If you buy an old laptop loaded with mp3's, you do not gain the right to even play them.

Depending on the operating system on the laptop, you may not even gain the right to boot it up. The bigger question would be who is enforcing the EULA and how aggressive are they going to be in doing so. In this case, announcing the purchase to the world may very well attract unwanted attention.
 
So someone borrows your car, and then unknown to you sells it to a third party then that third party has legal access to everything that was in the car? If that is really how it works in the us legal system then that's just fucked.

You lease a car to somebody, they file for bankruptcy and notify you, you don't respond to the notice by repossessing the car, they sell the car to pay off creditors and you get in line with the rest of the creditors for pennies on the dollar. Welcome to bankruptcy court. If you have a problem with the sale after it was authorized by the court, you can take it up with the lessee, but not the buyer.
 
First you should know the difference between an anecdote and an analogy. The developers don't own the devkits, sony leases it to them. So they can't legally sell it.

My fault , whatever. I may be wrong about the analogy, but you are dead wrong about sony owning the dev kit after the auction. That guy legally owns that ps4 an all contents inside of it. Sorry you can't understand that.
 
HELLOOOOOOO????? COOKIE MIX??? NEVER MIND THE LEGALITY OF SILLY DATA, COOOOKIIEEEES!!!!:jawdrop::jawdrop::jawdrop::jawdrop::jawdrop:
 
^ They have those cookie mix jars at Trader Joe's, FYI..

58233-its-sedimentary-my-dear-cookie-mix.jpg
 
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