Lik-Sang, Sony PSP, Sony killed Lik-Sang @ Gamer411

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Yesterday I asked why people bash Sony. With today's news about Lik-Sang's demise thanks to lawsuits from Sony, the answer to my question becomes a little clearer.

Quote: 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.

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10/24/06 +

YoYoPete | PS3: YoYo-Pete

Sad day indeed. Obviously this could have been handled in a mannor that would not lead to the ultimate demise of Lik-Sang.

It's times like this that show why Fanboyism is worthless. Who cares which system you play, gamers need to unite against big business.

I bet if every customer of Lik-Sang boycotted Sony from now on, they would understand what this really means to our community. However, I doubt this will happen. Even as much as I supported lik-sang, I wouln't trade my inevitable purchase of a PS3 with their existance. I am, after all, a gamer. I want the best system, not the best distributor of imports.

Sorry to say that, but it's just the cold truth. All we can do as a community is to let Sony know that we disagree with their actions.

All that being said, I find it also hard to believe that Sony just attacked lik-sang out of the blue. I have to believe that Sony told them to stop and lik-sang probably thought they were outside of the legal ramifications and continued with their actions of pre-ordering PS3s from the JPN region.

But all in all, you think Sony would have just said "Stop exporting it or we wont be shipping you any units for resale.." You and I, as the casual gamer who have been playing longer than any Sony exec has been employed by the industry, will never know the real story that caused this course of action to take place.

Was Sony using a sledge hammer to kill an ant, or did Lik-Sang think they were outside of Sony's reach?

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edited: Oct 24 2006 +

Chance

It just makes me sad. You're right Capt. This is why people dislike Sony. Their disreguard for how their actions affect THEIR customers! The sad part is all this ends is Lik-Sang. Importing won't stop. The people who were going to import will still import. It won't be centralized, but it'll be just as rampant.

Sony won't lose any customers due to killing Lik-Sang unless WE, as consumers, decide to stop buying their products.

I agree and disagree YoYo.. I think a boycott is in order. The strongest message you can send to Sony is that you're no longer a customer. They've shown over and over that they don't care what the consumer wants outside of what the consumer is willing to pay for. I don't like it either, but I think the answer is to not buy their products.

"Sorry to say that, but it's just the cold truth. All we can do as a community is let Sony know we disagree with their actions."

Actually, as a community, we can boycott them. We can look PAST our individual needs and as a community, make a difference.

(Ok.. just to be fair, I personally probably was NOT going to buy a PS3 for a long time anyway. I already own a Sony laptop, desktop, and 65" television. A psone and psp and various Sony products and games. For me to boycott them at this point doesn't hurt ME as a consumer very much. I still believe it's the right thing to do, but I think you should know exactly where I am coming from.. Peace.)

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10/24/06 +

Ikaickkaids

(C/Ped from psp411)
I love how Sony tried to play it off like it was out of concern for their consumers. Sure, Sony makes good products but they are one of the worst companies I've ever had to deal with. They're notoriously moneygrubbing, they have no concern or respect for their customers. I loved Sony before this generation; at this point I am so sick of the way they treat everyone else that they can count me out of their "services" permanently. I've had it with them trying to push everyone around, and their utter arrogance. I can't help but feel that I'd be walking into a nightmare by continuing to put faith in them.

10/24/06 + greenwald313

I understand Sony's decision from a business perspective, but from a PR perspective, its just plain stupid. Considering their current PR mess with the PS3, they could have waited until after launch (SONY YOU IDIOTS) to pursue the lawsuit. Now the whole blogging world is going to go insane over this anthill, dramatically snowballing it into a huge PR mess. The fallout would have been less after launch, so i don't understand why to go through with the lawsuit, Sony isn't that stupid. Now its time for damage control, (by the way IGN has a better article on this subject than 1up, less biased than 1up like usual. ) Heres the facts

- Strictly business decision, Business is business and money controls the trade
- All you XBOX fanboys guess what, MICROSOFT MAKES XBOX. wow... its amazing to see how people forget that. Microsoft isn't exactly your nicest cooperation. As a matter of fact, it has used the slimiest and most disgusting business moves in modern history. Now thats not to say those moves weren't legal and smart, like what sony does with its playstation, they were just unethical. But in a capitalistic economic system, there are no ethics in business. Money is not meant to have ethics. So i don't hate microsoft with a passion, I just don't like them. Thats why I use as much open source software like Firefox as possible. Now I'm sure all of you use some sort of monopoly every day, (even if playstation is not a monopoly in any way, not compared to windows 95% stake in computer OS). . Now, you hypocrites, if you buy a system because your against the "empire", then it better be a Wii because Nintendo is the only company that currently does not make slimy business decisions. But you know what, you won't because you want the comforts of a next gen system. SO DON'T SAY YOUR GOING TO BUY A 360 BASED ON PRINCIPLE, THATS A LOAD.BULL.
-If your read the gameindustry.biz article , you will notice that Lik-Sang did not contest the case so there were no legal costs, and lik Sang has not payed any money yet either that came as a result of the case. Obviously something else happened behind the scenes beyond importing PSPs that caused lik sang to fall. So until lik-sang releases the data that says that psp orders in europe contained a large enough profit margin to close them down (which is highly doubtful), the only logical reasoning would say that something else happened. There is no way to officially tell unless the numbers are released.

I'm not completely defending sony on this issue, they were stupid enough to get a ruling now, but then again, this issue will soon become out of proportion if people don't realize certain things.

10/24/06 + swhite

look you people have to look at it from a buisness point. just like greenwald313 said "Strictly business decision, Business is business and money controls the trade".first sony is a company and all companys want your money that is not something new. do you see ms giving away free stuff......no. i know this sucks for the people that used this but what can you do. if this was not a big deal to sony they would never had done anything to this company,but i guess there was a problem with this service that sony did not like and i guess it was taking money from them. this might suck for the people that used it but you have to look at it from a sony point of view. think about if you owned sony,what would you do. you wouldn't like a another company to sell your products. if sony was making money from lik-sang it would be no problem i guess, but i guess they weren't and if you was sony you would not like that, it is bad for buisness. but for the 100 countries that relied on Lik-Sang for their gaming needs this does suck for them. hopefully sony will fix this problem for them some how.

i dont see why you are mad at sony for fighting for there product being sold illegaly. and this is the first time sony did some thing like this and i would of did the samething if i was sony. this is like limewire, napser and downloading music and movies illegaly. you would not like another company to sell your stuff illegaly if you had a company. you should not get mad at a company for trying to pertech there product. there is a reason sony did this and it was not to just pick-on lik-sang.

10/24/06 +

Chance

Swhite, Sony executives BOUGHT from this company. This isn't the same as limewire. Lik-Sang wasn't stealing the Ps3's to sell. This is about protecting their monopoly on who sells their products.

There are no ethics in business? Man.. it's people who believe that and practice it that create that situation. My family owned a business and practiced it ethically for 25 years. Not having ethics, in the long run, is a diservice to yourself AND your customers. Not having ethics is why America's auto industry built vehicles that lasted only 5 years and ALSO why when Honda <who had ethics> came into the market, Americans had to start making better vehicles. Ethics are a very important part of business and only the weak minded, short sighted believe any different.

Sony has started acting like the American automotive industry and begun taking their market for granted. That is why Ford lost 5billion this quarter and GM isn't doing much better. Having no ethics is suicide in the long run.

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edited: Oct 25 2006 +

midnight

Chance, and Lik-Sang is sulking, badly. It is illegal to announce names of people who have bought from you, it is called th Data Protection Act. Look, Sony is thinking of its customers, i've made some points in the other thread but may aswell put them here aswell due to this being Cap's blog

1, Updates.... Updates are region specific, it makes sense that people in the UK get UK updates.
2, Warranty.... Your Warranty is only valid in the country the console is purchase, if your Jap PS3 breaks down you cannot get a replacement from Europe. The same will be for the controllers also, and makes even more sense now Sony have revealed that if any batteries go dead you will get it replaced free of charge.
3, Numbers... Japan has very limited stock available, why should a Japanese person lose out because an Exported has sent out consoles to countries that the console isnt even officially released in.
4, Customer Service/Support.... Until March there will be ZERO customer service, and even after that European CS cannot give advice about Japanese consoles (even more so with different Update versions for different countries)
5, Legal/PR Reasons.... Would Sony get in trouble if you lost an arm because their equipment exploded when you plugged it in? maybe not directly, but thats much worse PR than just stopping imports.
6, Region Specific.... The PS3 isnt totally Region Free. It is up to the developers to implement it. Movies however are region specific, do Sony want Blu-Ray movies to be a success? you bet they do, but many people who import are not going to go out and buy blu-ray movies from importers, so thats another revenue stream from the customer that will be cut off (Sony are a business afterall, they lose out on from hardware, they need to make it back from not only games but movies also)
7, Targets.... Each country has its own specific targets to meet. Sony Europe has to meet its targets, if people import then those targets can be affected. Not only that, but shops in the UK suffer due to imports. (yes, i know this is only a slight point because the number of imports is usually quite low)

I'm sure there are many other reasons, but before just hating Sony, think about why they have done this.

So basically, people think Sony are being selfish? rubbish, it is the importers who are being selfish (who are few, even though thousands of opinions have been raised about this from people who have never and will never import) , Sony is protecting the customer.

edited: Oct 25 2006 +

Chance

Ok.. Midnight.. Announcing the names of customers is wrong. I am not defending that period.
Not fighting a mega=corp like Sony in court is good business if you don't have the resources. They filed multiple lawsuits in multiple jurisdictions in multiple countries. I dont have the kind of money it takes to fight that.. That'd be like Microsoft going afterPsP411. Capt. would have to jump SHIP. He couldn't fight microsoft. He'd have to close this website down. Lik-Sang folded and decided to pay back the money it had taken from pre-orders, rather than use that money to fight Sony. An ethical decision.

Swhite.. just winning in court doesn't make you right. If it did..life would be alot easier. That's why there is an appeals process..etc. All courts are fallible. Especially elected/appointed judges. These judges often make decisions based on opinion rather than law.

Sony SOLD all that hardware to SOMEONE..even if that someone wasn't Lik-Sang. Sony got paid.

I've thought about why they've done this Midnight. It's not to protect the consumer. It's not to protect Sony. It's to protect their distributors.

I'm not even saying what Sony did wasn't justified. I'm saying, the way they went about it was bad business. Root kits are bad business. Forcing everyone to use your propriotary format is bad business. I don't want to give *my* business to a company that does business this way. You can hypothesize about why all day long.

Destroying a small company that supports your customer base, when you arent willing or able to is poor planning. This is a global marketplace and not being able to distribute globally is an infrastructure issue on Sony's part. I'm not saying what Lik-Sang was doing was legal or ethical. I don't know the laws involved. I am saying that destroying a distributor of your software that is HELPING you keep your customer base by allowing people to remain customers is bad business and bad for customers. Personally, it's not about WHY they did it..it's about how they treat their customers.

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edited: Oct 25 2006 +

midnight

Lets face it, this case is not about the PSP, and why should it when they are available in all countries now and there shouldnt be any shortages. If you want games, you can, this case is about consoles not game exports. If you want a PSP go to the shop and get one thats correct for your region, and is cheaper than an import.

And Sony are treating 'their' customers badly how? they have stopped Lik-Sang from exporting those, what, couple of thousand PS3's from the millions that will be launched? It doesnt stop people from buying a PS3 (or PSP), and a PS3 (PSP) that is for your region, that you get better support, correct updates, cheaper, and works with films from your region. So you dont get a PS3 as quick, thats the only down side, but then, who's to say those 1000's(?) of PS3's that are exported would arrive any sooner than waiting until March. (not that this affects you because you are from the US)

On top of all this, it IS illegal to sell products that do not conform to UK safety standards and they must be tested. If the Japanese console+ power supply havent been tested for UK standards then its illegal for Sony (and Lik-Sang) to sell that Japanese console to the UK.