Sony's PlayStation 2 is officially a games console and not a
computer, according to an English court judgment that denies the
electronics firm a €50 million rebate for import duties.
Sony has been pursuing legal action for five years in attempts
to have the machine classified as a "digital processing unit" and
not a games console. Games machines attracted an EU import duty of
1.7% in 2001, falling year by year to zero by 2004; but computers
attracted no duty in that time.
The most recent judgment comes from the Court of Appeal and not
only upholds the High Court's decision, but denies Sony a referral
to the European Court of Justice.
Sony was granted permission at one point to import the PS2 as a
games console, but was subsequently told by Customs and Excise that
that permission was revoked. It was Sony's continuing reliance on
the earlier permission to import the machine as a games console on
which Lord Justice Chadwick adjudicated.
"The point does not turn on whether … the goods ought to be
classified under sub-heading 8471 [i.e. as a games console]. The
point turns on whether, in the events which have happened, Sony was
entitled to continue to rely on binding tariff information … which
did classify the goods under 8471 notwithstanding the subsequent
decision of Customs and Excise that that information be revoked,"
wrote Chadwick. He dismissed the appeal.
In a stinging rebuke to Sony's legal team, Chadwick also took
issue with the manner in which the case was conducted.
"In my view the skeleton argument filed in this Court on behalf
of Sony goes beyond what can be regarded as acceptable written
advocacy: it exceeds the bounds of propriety," he wrote. "I am not
protesting about its inordinate length, nor about its discursive
quality, nor about its frequent and unnecessary resort to
hyperbole, although all those unappealing features are
present."
"My concern is with the repeated aspersions that are cast in
that document on the intellectual honesty of the High Court Judge
from whose decision this appeal is brought," he wrote.
Sony was the sole importer of the PS2 into Europe and told the
court that most imports came via Holland. Because sales were not as
high as expected, the company had to absorb the £6.60 cost of the
import duty itself rather than pass it on to consumers.
Since 2004 the issue has been irrelevant since neither
classification of machine has attracted import duty since then.
