Law11 May 2026
Case law › European Union
Sony v. Datel
CJEU, 1st Chamber, 17 October 2024, case C-159/23
Changing the content of variables in working memory, without reproducing or altering the code, does not infringe copyright in the computer program.
- Court
- CJEU, 1st Chamber
- Date
- 17 October 2024
- Reference
- case C-159/23
- Parties
- Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Ltd v. Datel Design and Development Ltd e.a.
Key takeaways
Datel sold software for the PlayStation Portable that unlocked options in a Sony game, such as unlimited boost. It did not touch the game's code: it only changed values that the game stores temporarily in memory while it runs.
For the Court of Justice, copyright in software protects the code, source and object, not what the program does or the data it handles during execution. As long as the code itself is neither copied nor modified, there is no infringement of the software right.
The ruling matters for mods and cheat tools: those that only act on the running of the game fall outside the software monopoly. Those that reuse code, graphics or sounds remain subject to copyright.
The question had been referred by the German Federal Court of Justice, concerning software sold for the PlayStation Portable and used with a racing game. The Court interpreted Article 1 of Directive 2009/24: protection covers the “forms of expression” of the program, that is, what allows it to be reproduced in whole or in part. The content of variables is merely an element by means of which the user makes use of the program's functionality.
The scope of the ruling has limits. It says nothing about the other grounds a publisher may rely on: the game's terms of use, unfair competition, circumvention of technical measures, or copyright in the graphic and sound elements. A cheat tool that is lawful under software law may therefore still be prohibited on another basis.
