LikSang
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Maddox is "tired of Sony's bullshit"
The Best Page in the Universe has left its four-month slumber for a rant against Sony. His hatred seems to come from Sony's lawsuit that led to the closure of Lik-Sang. Here's what he has to say: "Sony is suing to prevent people from selling PSPs? Great move, morons! Because if there's anything Sony needs right now, it's fewer people buying PSPs."In typical Maddox fashion, he has nothing kind to say about Sony and its PSP. "Sony would love nothing more than to see you and your family suffer. Sony is like that psycho-ex who you had a few good times with, but was too clingy and the sex got boring. Now it's over and Sony is still stewing about it by leaving you voice mail asking for another chance and promising it "can change."Feel free to send your hate mail to: maddox@xmission.com. Or, buy his book.[Via Joystiq]
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.
Sony wins grey importing case against Lik-Sang
Sony has just laid the proverbial smackdown on the popular import retailer Lik-Sang by winning a court case that ruled the website was in breach of Sony's intellectual property rights by grey importing its products. Grey importing is importing a product into a country without the manufacturer's consent.Lik-Sang, which sells Japanese PSPs to consumers through its website, argued it did not break the law since they're located in Hong Kong and "has no trading presence in the Uk or European Economic Area," according to Gamesindustry.biz."The law is clear; grey importing PS2, PSP or PS3 into the EU, without the express permission of SCE is illegal. Therefore, we will utilise the full scope of the law to put a stop to any retailers who chose to do this," a Sony spokeperson told GI.biz. "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."Wow, check out Sony going to bat for our safety! To be perfectly honest, I'm torn between whether this is a good thing or a bad thing for us consumers. On one hand, it's great to be able to buy those cool Japanese PSPs and other hardware that aren't available in the States, but on the other, it does protect consumers from retailers jacking up the price of imported hardware.[Via DCEmu]
