Sony must prove PS3 hacker specifically targeted California

The lawyer representing PlayStation 3 hacker George Hotz in his legal fight against Sony has claimed the case may hinge on geography.

"SCEA must demonstrate that Mr. Hotz 'purposefully availed' himself of the privilege of conducting activities in California, or purposefully directed its activities toward California," Stewart Kellar's latest motion (as seen by ArsTechnica) argued.

Sony has been demanding that the case be held in a Californian court, something even the judge had previously questioned. The case may thus be contingent upon Sony proving that Hotz was specifically targeting California in his actions.

Sony has previously attempted to leverage as evidence Hotz' use of Californian services PayPal, YouTube and Twitter to promoted the PS3 hack and ask for donations.

"In the present case, SCEA cannot demonstrate that Mr. Hotz's activity could even arguably be construed as expressly aimed at California," claimed Kellar.

"To the contrary, the sole alleged activity in this action involves Mr. Hotz - who is located in New Jersey - purportedly improperly accessing portions of his own Playstation computer -which is also located in New Jersey," he said.

Kellar also observed that "The Playstation computer is not made by SCEA. It is made by Sony Inc. which is a Japanese corporation."

An additional concern by Kellar is his allegation that Sony has misrepresented some of Hotz' comments as exhortation. Sony has claimed that Hotz wrote "If you want your next console to be secure, contact me, any of you."

Kellar, however, claims that " The double-hearsay quote, derived from a screenshot within a forum post within a website... omits the full statement, which undermines SCEA's claim that Mr. Hotz directed any statement toward SCEA."

Kellar's latest motion seeks a dismissal of the temporary restraining order issued against Hotz.