James Delahunty
25 Oct 2006 8:49
Following a ruling earlier this month by the High Court of London, Lik-Sang has declared itself out of business "due to multiple Sony lawsuits". The ruling found that sales of PSPs from Lik-Sang to customers in the UK and the European Economic Area (EEA) are unlawful. The hearing took place on October 9 at the High Court of London, without Lik-Sang's legal representatives attending or arguing at the hearing.
The argument over PSP sales started in August 2005, when Lik-Sang was shipping PSP consoles to the UK and the rest of Europe where it was not available in stores yet. Sony alleged that Lik-Sang advertised the Sony products "in a dishonest manner" and "unlawfully interferes with Sony's economical interests" in a lawsuit in the High Court of Hong Kong.
Sony also filed a lawsuit in the UK for the sale of the PSPs but also went after Lik-Sang for copyright infringement for mirroring the freely available PSP user guides on their servers. Yesterday, Lik-Sang left an article on its website explaining to customers that the company is out of business and that Sony is to blame.
"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 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." he continued. Lik-Sang will not accept any new orders now and will cancel and refund all existing orders. In its article, Lik-Sang surprised the gaming world by naming Sony executives who have previously purchased PSPs or software for the device from Lik-Sang.
Sony denies responsibility, lashes out at Lik-Sang
In a statement given to GamesIndustry.biz, Sony acknowledged successfully suing Pacific Game Technology, which uses Lik-Sang as one of its trading names, for infringing intellectual property rights. The statement goes on to accuse Lik-Sang of "sour grapes" and addresses the purchasing of PSP goods by Sony executives.
"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,"Whether or not Sony is responsible for Lik-Sang giving up, the closure of the popular business is a shame. Sony is now getting ready to wage war against anyone it finds importing PlayStation 3 consoles into Europe.
"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."
"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."