Lik-Sang’s demise caused by multiple Sony lawsuits
Because of multiple lawsuits filed by Sony, Hong Kong gaming retailer Lik-Sang finally succumbed and bid the industry goodbye. As of today, Lik-Sang is no longer operational, following the ruling of the High Court of London regarding the retailer’s sale of PSP consoles. According to the decision, Lik-Sang’s act was unlawful as it infringed on Sony’s trademarks, copyright, and registered design rights by engaging in gray importation.
The main stand of Sony, through a spokesperson’s statement to Gamesindustry.biz recently, was that they ultimately had the customers’ best interests at heart. They claim that it would be to the disadvantage of the consumer if they were sold hardware that fails to conform to strict EU or UK consumer safety standards.
Lik-Sang, however, vehemently disagrees with Sony’s claims, citing that the PSP consoles that they ship contain genuine Sony 100V-240V AC Adapters, which carry CE and other safety marks, compatible worldwide. Furthermore, all the handhelds did actually conform with all EU and UK consumer safety regulations. Therefore, the necessity issue for consumer-protection raised by Sony was non-existent at best.
Lik-Sang also points out the irony that while Sony was berating them for supposedly infringing on their rights, they conveniently failed to disclose to the High Court of London that Sony Europe’s very own top directors allegedly received their PSP hard or software imports from Lik-Sang, starting just two days after it officially came out in Japan, complete with accompanying free Lik-Sang merchandise, like mugs or badge holders.
SCEE Managing Director, Ray Maguire, UK Marketing Director Alan Duncan, Chris Sorrell, SCEE Creative Director, and Rob Parkin, SCEE Development Director, are just a few of the names who were found to have placed PSP-related Sony Europe orders. Nine months later, Lik-Sang found itself facing a lawsuit from the company of these former customers.
Former Marketing Manager of Lik-Sang.com, Pascal Clarysse, had some words to say about the issue. And you can expect it to be not pretty. Says he:
Today is Sony Europe victory about PSP, tomorrow is Sony EuropeÂ’s ongoing pressure about PlayStation 3. With this precedent set, next week could already be the stage for complaints from Sony America about the same thing, or from other console manufacturers about other consoles to other regions, or even from any publisher about any specific software title to any country they donÂ’t see fit. ItÂ’s the beginning of the end… of the World as we know it.
So what happens now to those existing placement orders?
Lik-Sang will be cancelling and refunding all existing orders. They are also now working closely with banks and PayPal to work out the refund of any store credits held by the company. Their customer support department is also working double time to cater to any open transactions, like pending RMAs or repairs and shipping related matters. They also would like to reassure their patrons that they will make sure nobody gets in the line of fire unnecessarily regarding this issue.
And like receiving news that a good friend just passed away, there’s nothing more left to say.
Because of multiple lawsuits filed by Sony, Hong Kong gaming retailer Lik-Sang finally succumbed and bid the industry goodbye. As of today, Lik-Sang is no longer operational, following the ruling of the High Court of London regarding the retailer’s sale of PSP consoles. According to the decision, Lik-Sang’s act was unlawful as it infringed on Sony’s trademarks, copyright, and registered design rights by engaging in gray importation.
The main stand of Sony, through a spokesperson’s statement to Gamesindustry.biz recently, was that they ultimately had the customers’ best interests at heart. They claim that it would be to the disadvantage of the consumer if they were sold hardware that fails to conform to strict EU or UK consumer safety standards.
Lik-Sang, however, vehemently disagrees with Sony’s claims, citing that the PSP consoles that they ship contain genuine Sony 100V-240V AC Adapters, which carry CE and other safety marks, compatible worldwide. Furthermore, all the handhelds did actually conform with all EU and UK consumer safety regulations. Therefore, the necessity issue for consumer-protection raised by Sony was non-existent at best.
Lik-Sang also points out the irony that while Sony was berating them for supposedly infringing on their rights, they conveniently failed to disclose to the High Court of London that Sony Europe’s very own top directors allegedly received their PSP hard or software imports from Lik-Sang, starting just two days after it officially came out in Japan, complete with accompanying free Lik-Sang merchandise, like mugs or badge holders.
SCEE Managing Director, Ray Maguire, UK Marketing Director Alan Duncan, Chris Sorrell, SCEE Creative Director, and Rob Parkin, SCEE Development Director, are just a few of the names who were found to have placed PSP-related Sony Europe orders. Nine months later, Lik-Sang found itself facing a lawsuit from the company of these former customers.
Former Marketing Manager of Lik-Sang.com, Pascal Clarysse, had some words to say about the issue. And you can expect it to be not pretty. Says he:
Today is Sony Europe victory about PSP, tomorrow is Sony EuropeÂ’s ongoing pressure about PlayStation 3. With this precedent set, next week could already be the stage for complaints from Sony America about the same thing, or from other console manufacturers about other consoles to other regions, or even from any publisher about any specific software title to any country they donÂ’t see fit. ItÂ’s the beginning of the end… of the World as we know it.
So what happens now to those existing placement orders?
Lik-Sang will be cancelling and refunding all existing orders. They are also now working closely with banks and PayPal to work out the refund of any store credits held by the company. Their customer support department is also working double time to cater to any open transactions, like pending RMAs or repairs and shipping related matters. They also would like to reassure their patrons that they will make sure nobody gets in the line of fire unnecessarily regarding this issue.
And like receiving news that a good friend just passed away, there’s nothing more left to say.
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