It looks like Lik-Sang, a Hong Kong based retailer exporting gaming gear worldwide, has buckled under the legal pressure put on by Sony for explorting PSPs to Europe. Sony won a case at the High-Court in London due to an apparent no-show by Lik-Sang on Wednesday (18/10/2006). The court found in favour of Sony Computer Entertainment citing the practice of grey imports being a “..breach of intellectual property rights” [gamesindustry.biz]
This action comes with the release of Sony’s Playstation 3 just around the corner. Lik-Sang probably had a huge list of customers in and around Europe on the pre-order list, some of who could have been playing on the console four months ahead of the official Euro release.
In a twist to the story, Lik-Sang also dropped the names of some directors at Sony Computer Entertainment Europe who they claim had used Lik-Sang to purchase PSPs. Sony released a response..probably due to all the negative press they have been getting…and said “The purchasing of PSP consoles by SCE employees would be for investigatory purposes” [gamesindustry.biz]. They seem to be so sure of their employees. I wonder if the named employees still have the PSPs at home or if PR Damage Dept. has called them up requesting them.
You can read the full release from Lik-Sang HERE.
Unfortunately my ultimate Google power search skills did not lead me to the correct Sony Press site with Sony’s release on the matter so HERE is a message from Howard Stringer..along with a picture.
Links to news coverage of the events available courtesy of Google News