US District Judge Susan Illston of San Francisco granted Sony a temporary restraining order against PS3 hacker George Hotz.

Illston was not happy about the order because he was worried about  California courts having jurisdiction in the case. Under the order Hotz can no longer make any information about the PlayStation hacks available on his website, and he must turn over his computer equipment to Sony within 10 days.

Judge Illston decided that  California had to try the case due to the concept of "purposeful direction." This means that the defendant "committed an intentional act, expressly aimed at the California and caused harm that the defendant knows is likely to be suffered in California." While it is annoying that Hotz, will have to give up his computer for sniffing from Sony, it is unlikely to stop his code being distributed.

Sony wants  monetary damages due to the hack's bad effects on software sales. It is not clear how far that will go. It appears that Hotz's legal team will use the fact that he did not wish any harm to the people of California as one line in an appeal. We guess that they will find others.