Starting today, and for at least 10 more days, European customs officers will seize all imported PlayStation 3 units and keep them in Dutch warehouses.
This is due to a court order which was made as part of LG's patent case against Sony, claiming that the PlayStation 3 - along with several other Sony products - infringes on Blu-ray related patents owned by LG.
LG has filed a similar case in the U.S.A. almost a month ago.
LG is now seeking a court order to extend the ban period and to destroy the confiscated consoles. The Guardian reports that available PlayStation 3 stock in Europe is expected to last for 2 to 3 weeks at most.
It is unlikely that the court would have the confiscated consoles destroyed, but if the court finds that Sony has infringed on LG's patents, the court will force Sony to pay royalties to LG for every one of the more than 50 million PlayStation 3 units sold till now.
