Lik-sang responds: Sony "marched all over us"
On Tuesday, popular game importer Lik-sang announced that they were being forced to shut down due to expenses incurred fighting multiple lawsuits from Sony. Sony quickly went into damage control mode, telling GamesIndustry.biz that the legal battle had nothing to do with the site's closure and accusing the online retailer of "sour grapes." Today, Lik-Sang Marketing Manager Pascal Clarysse answered back, telling Joystiq that Sony has "marched all over us."
Among the claims made in Clarysse's letter:
Although Lik-sang did not end up contesting the London suit, the retailer spent significant time and money arguing over the London High Court's jurisdiction before the case came to court.
Now that the London case has been decided, Lik-sang has been ordered to pay Sony's legal fees of 100,000 GBP ($187,140) by Nov. 1.
The ongoing cost of the Hong Kong case is forcing Lik-Sang to pay for hundreds of hours of legal work at roughly 380 GBP ($711) per hour, not including clerks and assistants.
Clarysse was also incredulous of court statements that Sony Europe 'became aware' of Lik-sang's importing business in March 2005, given that three of the firm's directors had ordered and received PSPs from the site more than six months beforehand.
This may well be the last we hear from the company on the matter for a while, as Clarysse said his contract and those of his colleagues had been terminated. We can only hope that everyone who has been impacted by this state of affairs lands on their feet.
