Sony has patented a way to use load times to check whether software is legitimate or pirated.

Basically the idea uses a benchmark load time for the selected piece of software and then checks to see if your load time is too far outside the acceptable threshold, if it is then it’s goodnight Vienna. The patent fails to explain what happens if the time is outside of the threshold, but I’m guessing it’s nothing good.

The patent is titled “Benchmark Measurement for Legitimate Duplication Validation” (via DarkZero) and was published on February 21. This patent is only connected to pirated software and has nothing to do with used games.