[Thrasher]

Important Notice: Lik-Sang.com Out of Business due to Multiple Sony Lawsuits

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - OUT OF BUSINESS NOTICE

Hong Kong, October 24th of 2006 - Lik-Sang.com, the popular gaming retailer from Hong Kong, has today announced that it is forced to close down due to multiple legal actions brought against it by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Limited and Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Sony claimed that Lik-Sang infringed its trade marks, copyright and registered design rights by selling Sony PSP consoles from Asia to European customers, and have recently obtained a judgment in the High Court of London (England) rendering Lik-Sang's sales of PSP consoles unlawful.

As of today, Lik-Sang.com will not be in the position to accept any new orders and will cancel and refund all existing orders that have already been placed. Furthermore, Lik-Sang is working closely with banks and PayPal to refund any store credits held by the company, and the customer support department is taking care of any open transactions such as pending RMAs or repairs and shipping related matters. The staff of Lik-Sang will make sure that nobody will get hurt in the crossfire of this ordeal.

A Sony spokesperson declined to comment directly on the lawsuit against Lik-Sang, but recently went on to tell Gamesindustry.biz that "ultimately, we're trying to protect consumers from being sold hardware that does not conform to strict EU or UK consumer safety standards, due to voltage supply differences et cetera; is not - in PS3's case - backwards compatible with either PS1 or PS2 software; will not play European Blu-Ray movies or DVDs; and will not be covered by warranty".

Lik Sang strongly disagrees with Sony's opinion that their customers need this kind of protection and pointed out that PSP consoles shipped from Lik-Sang contained genuine Sony 100V-240V AC Adapters that carry CE and other safety marks and are compatible world wide. All PSP consoles were in conformity with all EU and UK consumer safety regulations.

Furthermore, Sony have failed to disclose to the London High Court that not only the world wide gaming community in more than 100 countries relied on Lik-Sang for their gaming needs, but also Sony Europe's very own top directors repeatedly got their Sony PSP hard or software imports in nicely packed Lik-Sang parcels with free Lik-Sang Mugs or Lik-Sang Badge Holders, starting just two days after Japan's official release, as early as 14th of December 2004 (more than nine months earlier than the legal action). The list of PSP related Sony Europe orders reads like the who's who of the videogames industry, and includes Ray Maguire (Managing Director, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Ltd), Alan Duncan (UK Marketing Director, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Ltd), Chris Sorrell (Creative Director, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Ltd), Rob Parkin (Development Director, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Limited), just to name a few.

"Today is Sony Europe victory about PSP, tomorrow is Sony Europe’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 don’t see fit. It’s the beginning of the end... of the World as we know it", stated Pascal Clarysse, formerly known as the Marketing Manager of Lik-Sang.com.

"Blame it on Sony. That's the latest dark spot in their shameful track record as gaming industry leader. The Empire finally 'won', few dominating retailers from the UK probably will rejoice the news, but everybody else in the gaming world lost something today."

http://www.lik-sang.com/news.php?artc=3901
http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/top/son...ath-209729.php

And in other news being a early adopter, finding rare controllers, and playing games in Japanese possibly just got more expensive and a harder to accomplish .
I would also like to personally congratulate Sony for yet another public relations disaster.

[Raydeus]

I never knew this site existed.

So the whole thing was about them taking away costumers from local distributors? That safety crap is just an excuse and I doubt anyone would fall for that.

I hope this doesn't change some other sites' policy about exports or I'll suffer to get some games that will never be brought to where I live.

If local distributors weren't so stupidly bad people wouldn't have the need to import from other countries, but I guess is easier to sue then to fix things.

[Pai Pai Master]

It's obvious Sony has had it out for Lik-Sang for some time.

The reasons? We may never know.

In the end, however, it doesn't really matter for us. Yes, it's unfortunate that a small company like Lik-Sang has literally been destroyed by a corporation like Sony and some people are out of jobs as a result, but it's likely impossible for Sony or any other company to go around and try to shut down every import shop on the internet. Lik-Sang could have fought it, but they just didn't have the resources.

[Malevolent]

Hmh...a commenter makes a good point...once its out of the factory and out of the store isn't it yours...and you can do whatever you want with it?

[Macht]

Way to much information that's just way to supperficial. And quotes that are not making sense or contradict. I mean why would the marketing manager of Lik-Sang say it's a victory for Sony Europe when many top heads from Sony Europe seemed to be relying on them.

On top of that if so many heads of Sony Europe were relying on them then why would they persue such actions against them? This sounds more like political actions then anything. It suggests Lik-Sang screwed up somewere that wasn't disclosed, more or less media being bias again. Not to mention that after-though message at the end, that just spews of a bias remark like the news reporter is intentionally taking a pot shot at Sony. I mean that last message is even quoted but no info of who the reporter is quoting.

I mean seriously when did reporting news become so sloppy and bias. It overshadows everything else putting a hating overtone on Sony. Very easily this reporting would cause a wildfire without all the truths being known.

[ikkleste]

I think that's a continuation of Pascal Clarysse's quote.

[Raydeus]

There has to be something else here, and yep the reporter seemed pretty biased about it.

There's a huge lack of info about the facts, but the safety standards explanation is way too obviously a made up excuse for taking out the site.

I'm betting for a loss in sales from local distributors as the cause, and it wouldn't be the first time I see something like that happen, but who knows what the real reason was.

Either way as long as this doesn't make other sites change their export policy this wont have much of an impact.

[Macht]

Originally Posted by ikkleste

I think that's a continuation of Pascal Clarysse's quote.

See continuations would still be marked. The reporter almost intentionally omitted it, because if it was pointed directly to being a continued comment of Pascal Clarysse it would lessen the impact of that last statement.

[Mog]

Here's part of the reason why they're closing down...

Lik Sang's sales of Sony PSP Consoles illegal, according to London High Court Judge


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Hong Kong, October 20th of 2006 - Lik-Sang.com, leading online retailer for videogame systems, games and cutting-edge gaming gear, was today informed that Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Limited and Sony Computer Entertainment Inc have obtained a judgment in the High Court of London ruling PSP sales of the popular web store to the UK and the European Economic Area (EEA) unlawful.

The court hearing took place on October 9 at the High Court of London, without Lik-Sang's legal representatives attending or arguing at the hearing. It is unclear at this point if this ruling will also affect exports of PlayStation 3 and other PlayStation-branded items. Furthermore, Sony intends to obtain an UK injunction against Lik-Sang's sales to the EEA.

The legal battle with Sony over Lik-Sang's legitimate exporting activities started during August 2005. Sony complained about the sales of PSP (PlayStation Portable) systems to Europe and launched a lawsuit in the High Court of Hong Kong, arguing that Lik-Sang advertises the Sony products "in a dishonest manner" and "unlawfully interferes with Sony's economical interests". They further launched a completely separate lawsuit against the Hong Kong based company in the courts of England for selling PSP consoles to customers in Europe and the UK, and also for mirroring the freely available PSP user guides on their servers alleging copyright infringement.

Hong Kong's laws are clear when it comes to parallel trade, and the company has no ties whatsoever with the UK. While Lik-Sang vigorously contested the UK's jurisdiction over the allegations, the judge apparently found that UK law should also apply to Hong Kong exporters. Sony has also threatened Lik Sang recently to initiate yet another lawsuit to prevent the sales of PlayStation 3 consoles to Europe.

How this decision will affect Lik-Sang's business is not entirely known at this time. The retailer is currently exploring its legal options and analyzing the consequences of this ruling.

[WishMaster3K]

Everyone has it out for Sony. People don't like cockyness and when they can't out strategise someone, they'll take pot shots whenever they can. (Being a cocky person I understand this concept)

All in all, I don't care. I read Lik-Sang for news, and even more so, I have a local importer in ChinaTown, so guess who doesn't care!

It's just more bad press for Sony. I hope they made out with some money to cover legal fees, because asshole companies like Immersion are making it impossible to enjoy reading the news.

[Macht]

I knew there had to be more dirt on Lik-Sang's end as well. Still pretty supperficial though, but the missrepresentation of a company is a pretty big one in the business industry. Hell our company constantly has copy-cats trying to steal our business or ruin our name. We've had many MANY calls to deal with before with customers getting fliers we did not send, but another place taking our name had done. They just changed it slightly relying on people's lack of attention to detail. Fell bad for those people, because they are get something thinking it's under our warranty. Just to find out after very lengthly conversations that someone not related to our company tricked them using our name. Can't cover them too because then we are just asking for those copy-cats to steal our name more and really screw us over.

[Mog]

Originally Posted by WishMaster3K

Everyone has it out for Sony. People don't like cockyness and when they can't out strategise someone, they'll take pot shots whenever they can. (Being a cocky person I understand this concept)

All in all, I don't care. I read Lik-Sang for news, and even more so, I have a local importer in ChinaTown, so guess who doesn't care!

It's just more bad press for Sony. I hope they made out with some money to cover legal fees, because asshole companies like Immersion are making it impossible to enjoy reading the news.

They may be a cocky company that's going to overrun the competition, but they're taking a huge loss with making the PS3.

The engine that they developed is lightyears ahead of its time and the resources to make it now are quite a bit.....yet they keep lowering the price of the PS3 to appease the crowd (even though the majority of people would be content paying the original price of 500-600 bucks for one)

and yeah.....people will take pot shots at the top dog whenever they can, whether it be for publicity or some other miniscule reason.

[Randwolf]

If they want to make a difference for the average player, go after RMT with this zeal. If you're on Sylph, Lihongbin and his assistants seem to disappear temporarily after the "purges" but then re-emerge in a matter of days.

Set a limit on NM claims based on the spawn timer and then automatical investigate those accounts. And if someone lives off an NM, I mean does nothing else in game, then boot that account.

It's one thing to hog an NM (perhaps rude) but completely another to monopolize it.

[Pai Pai Master]

This doesn't really have anything to do with RMT and FFXI.

But honestly, it's not completely Sony's doing. They're not some "evil empire" as Lik-Sang claims. It's possible that Sony's lawsuits didn't even cost Lik-Sang anything, they never went through.

There's no way that Lik-Sang went completely out of business solely because of Sony's lawsuits. Both Nintendo and Microsoft have looked at suing them for various reasons as well.

This press release by them was likely some sort of retaliation at Sony, who's recent actions at least probably broke the camel's back, finally.

In the end, I won't be surprised when Lik-Sang resurfaces on a different website with a different name. It's happened in the past. They could have avoided a lot of problems by just pulling their import PSP and PS3 consoles from the site.

[WishMaster3K]

According to a recent article at Gamesindustry.biz

In a statement issued to GamesIndustry.biz, Sony has denied any responsibility for the closure of Lik-Sang - accusing the online retailer of "sour grapes".

The statement begins by observing that Sony Computer Entertainment has successfully sued Pacific Game Technology, which uses Lik-Sang as one of its trading names, for infringing intellectual property rights.

"Lik-Sang did not contest this case (i.e. they did not turn up and therefore incurred no legal costs). We have been awarded substantial costs against Lik-Sang which have not been paid," the statement claims.

"We would therefore strongly deny that our actions have had anything to do with this website closing (we assume the legal entity is still trading), and would suggest that this release is sour grapes on behalf of Lik-Sang which is aimed to belittle Sony Computer Entertainment and the British judicial system that found against them."

Earlier today, Lik-Sang announced it was going out of business, citing a series of lawsuits filed by Sony as the reason for the closure. The retailer also alleged that several SCE executives purchased import PSP hardware and software on its website.

Sony responded, "The purchasing of PSP consoles by SCE employees would be for investigatory purposes. We would also like to express our surprise at a company releasing personal information about its consumers, as this is contrary to data protection principles around the world."

PWND


Well anyway, GI.B is largely "Pro-Sony." While not "Sony Fanboys," they always are the first to cite positive news in the sea of hate.