PlayStation®Home: Terms of Use

Thank you for your interest in PlayStation®Home. Participation in PlayStation®Home is subject to the terms of this agreement (“Terms of Use”), which apply in addition to the PlayStation®Network Terms of Service and User Agreement (“Terms of Service”). You will only be able to take part in PlayStation®Home if you accept these Terms of Use. Acceptance of these Terms of Use forms a binding contract between you and Sony Computer Entertainment Hong Kong Limited of Suites 1501-1506, 15/F, Sun Life Tower, The Gateway, Harbour City, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong (“us”, “we”).

  1. You must be a PlayStation®Network (“PSN”) Account Holder to participate in PlayStation®Home.
  2. You must at all times act lawfully and with respect towards other users. In particular you must not:
    1. abuse or harass others, including but not limited to stalking or bullying;
    2. use offensive or vulgar language, images, or sounds in any forum, communication, public profile or other publicly viewable areas. This includes speech that is racially, ethnically, or religiously offensive, defamation, threats, bullying and stalking;
    3. organise hate groups or use or promote hate speech;
    4. cheat or engage in deceptive or misleading practices;
    5. use any unauthorised hardware or software to access or use PlayStation®Home or make, or distribute unauthorised software or hardware in conjunction with PlayStation®Home (including but not limited to cheat code, software or devices that circumvent any security features or limitations included on any software or devices);
    6. modify or attempt to modify the online client, disc, save file, server, client-server communication, or other parts of any game title or other content;
    7. cause disruption to any account, system, hardware, software, or network connected to PlayStation®Home for any reason, including to gain an unfair advantage;
    8. bypass or attempt to bypass any user authentication systems or security feature;
    9. attempt to hack or reverse engineer any code or equipment in connection with PlayStation®Home (unless permitted by applicable law);
    10. send excessive communications that are disruptive (spamming) to the normal process of PlayStation®Home or that are otherwise unsolicited;
    11. use PlayStation®Home in any way for commercial purposes, unless expressly authorised by us (including without limit introducing commercial content or services such as advertisements, solicitations, promotions of goods and services and links to web sites);
    12. introduce content that will be harmful to us, our licensors or other users, such as any code or virus that may damage any property or interfere with the use of PlayStation®Home, any content or the PSN;
    13. access, use, or distribute any content or material that you know or should have known to be infringing or pirated;
    14. impersonate any other person (famous or otherwise), including another user, our employees or employees of any third party company;
    15. provide us or any third party company with false or inaccurate information, including reporting false complaints to our customer services or providing false or inaccurate information during account registration;
    16. engage in any activity to gain access to or interfere with any unauthorised account, system, hardware, software, or network connected to PlayStation®Home or the PSN;
    17. sell, buy, or trade your online ID, your personal access to PlayStation®Home or PlayStation®Home or any content or services accessed via PlayStation®Home, through any means or method, including use of web auction sites;
    18. conduct any activities that violate any applicable laws;
    19. use PlayStation®Home in any way that harms us or any of our affiliates, subsidiaries, licensors, service providers, partners or users; or
    20. otherwise misuse PlayStation®Home.
  3. We accept no liability to you for the activity of other users on PlayStation®Home and no liability to you or others for your activity on PlayStation®Home. We give no warranty about the quality, functionality, availability, completeness, accuracy or performance of PlayStation®Home or any content and services available via PlayStation®Home. We provide PlayStation®Home "AS IS" without any warranties and representations of any kind, whether expressed or implied, including but not limited to any warranties of merchantability or fitness for particular purpose, or non-infringement. We do not guarantee PlayStation®Home will always be available or error free. To the extent permitted by applicable law, we exclude all direct and indirect, special, consequential damages and liability, including liability for loss of data or unauthorised access to data and for damage caused to your software or hardware as a result of using or accessing PlayStation®Home. Your sole, exclusive remedy is to stop using PlayStation®Home and cease participation in PlayStation®Home.
  4. PlayStation®Home is in beta. From time to time during the beta we may modify PlayStation®Home and related content, services and software automatically and without notice. Modifications may cause loss of data or content and loss of function or utility. You hereby authorise us to make all such modifications and agree that, to the extent permitted by applicable law, we are not liable for any loss of data, content, function or utility.
  5. PlayStation®Home may include tools, such as the ability to communicate with other users and to post, stream or transmit pictures, photographs, game-related materials, music, home video content and other information in some areas of PlayStation®Home (“User Material”). PlayStation®Home is an international environment which enables you to communicate with individuals in your own and other countries. Information provided by you in PlayStation®Home may be viewed by individuals in countries that may not offer the same protection for personal data as is provided in your country.

    We do not claim ownership of any User Material you submit or make available for inclusion in PlayStation®Home. You authorise us, our affiliated companies and other PSN users to use, distribute, copy, modify, display, perform and publish your User Material throughout PSN and other associated services worldwide without payment to you or any third party, and you waive any moral rights you may have in your User Material. By posting, streaming or transmitting User Material, you represent and warrant that (i) you have all rights, including licences from third parties, necessary to post, stream or transmit such User Material and grant the rights required hereunder, and (ii) you have paid all third parties for any royalties and fees that you might owe as a result of use, display or distribution of such content. If you are not certain you have received all necessary rights from third parties, you may not use, post, stream or transmit such content. We are not responsible for any User Material or communications of users, may not have control over such content, and do not review any of User Materials prior to each user’s transmission or display of such content. You agree to cooperate with us and our affiliates and subsidiaries in resolving any dispute that may arise from your posting, streaming or transmitting of User Material through PlayStation®Home. We reserve the right to refuse to post, stream, or transmit and/or to remove any User Material at our discretion.
  6. PlayStation®Home may include a screen capture tool which allows you to capture images on the screen while you are in some areas of PlayStation®Home. Copyrights of the captured images will belong to us and/or our licensors. The captured images are solely for your non-commercial, revocable and personal use. You may not modify the captured images except for image resizing. You must cease all use of the captured images upon request of us or our licensors. We are not responsible for, or liable for any claims arising as a result of your use of the captured images.
  7. We reserve the right to monitor and record your online activity and communication throughout PlayStation®Home (including in public spaces, club houses and apartments) and to remove any content from PlayStation®Home at our sole discretion but we make no commitment to do so. By accepting these Terms of Use, you expressly consent to this. If you experience any unacceptable or inappropriate behaviour while in PlayStation®Home or wish to report any other breach of the Terms of Service or these Terms of Use, please contact our Customer Services or let us know using PlayStation®Home’s grief reporting facility.
  8. We reserve the right to suspend or cancel PlayStation®Home or your access to it at any time in our absolute discretion. If we believe that you are in breach of any of these Terms of Use or any other relevant terms, we may terminate your participation in PlayStation®Home and/or your PSN account without paying any compensation to you.
  9. These Terms of Use shall be construed and interpreted in accordance with the laws of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, People's Republic of China.

October 8, 2009