Sony go after Lik-Sang

[Nick]

From the front page of HEXUS.gaming:

In a press release issued today, Lik-Sang.com, the Hong Kong based games importer, has announced that Sony have filed a High Court of Hong Kong case against them.

Sony is claiming Lik-Sang is breaching Sony's trade mark rights by importing the PSP into the UK and Europe and further, that Lik-Sang infringed Sony's copyright by mirroring the PSP manual in the Lik-Sang news section in June.

Check out HEXUS.gaming for the full story.

[Dougal]

Wouldn't have had this problem if Sony weren't Xenophobic. Damn Asian/American company not liking Europe so taking far too long to get it over here.

[beanbandit]

It was only a matter of time before Sony took action on Lik-Sang. Seeing as the PSP is released on 1st Sept i don't understand why Sony are bothering.

[Atomic]

All this PSP stuff is a joke now, sony need to get their act together and release stuff into europe within a sensible time bracket compared to the rest of the world.

[ikonia]

I don't see why sony even "have" to release it into Europe (playing devils advocate)

As I've read (I'm not up on psp at all) the differences to the European model are quite a few (something to do with the screen/encoding/encyption etc) so sony may be testing a market USA/Asia before making these alternates, or could be trying to bring up demand in europe. They did this with the PS Entertainment system (was it called the PS-X) and because it was a big flop it never got released in Europe.

Plus for all we know, there could be stricter rules to releasing a computer product in Europe ? I don't know. Can't really have a go at Sony though, they are entitled to release what they want where they want.

[beanbandit]

I don't see why sony even "have" to release it into Europe (playing devils advocate)

As I've read (I'm not up on psp at all) the differences to the European model are quite a few (something to do with the screen/encoding/encyption etc) so sony may be testing a market USA/Asia before making these alternates, or could be trying to bring up demand in europe. They did this with the PS Entertainment system (was it called the PS-X) and because it was a big flop it never got released in Europe.

Plus for all we know, there could be stricter rules to releasing a computer product in Europe ? I don't know. Can't really have a go at Sony though, they are entitled to release what they want where they want.

There are no real differences between units for different areas. Sony changed supplier for the screens, but that doesn't impact on the system at all. Plus the button issue was fixed very early on. Sony are not going to release different versions of the hardware depending on where they are sold. The only real difference between units is the region code for UMD disc's (films).

The PS-X was a flop because it was well overpriced with a poor design. Control ports at the back of the unit Plus when it was eventually released it was missing some of the functionality that Sony said it could do. You had to wait for Sony to trickle updates, and most people want things to work as advertised out of the box.

We can have a go at Sony, they have treated Europe poorly in the past and they are showing that they still don't really care. We get games/consoles much later than USA/Japan at highly inflated prices. Which means Sony are making more money from us.

[Agent]

What ever happened to free trade?
If someone is importing something and abiding by both county’s laws (such as import taxation, ect...), then why should Sony have any say on who can, and can not buy it?
Of course, Im sure it has nothing to do with the between £50 and £60 more that they are marketing it at here.

[Stoo]

Breaching trademarks and copyrights? How the hell does that work?

You don't see Tesco getting taken to court every time they sell Heinz beans cheaper than everyone else, this really infuriates me, especially when Sony specifically mention:

Lik-Sang's sales are an unlawful interference with Sony's economic interests

Which when coupled by the apparent ease of purchase of both American and Japanese PSP's simply proves that Sony are using Europe purely to boost profits, and the late release has nothing to do with product availability, but everything to do with creating a "feeding-frenzy" type sales period with those over-inflated prices.

[ikonia]

I think, the trademark/copyright issues are something to do with the games not the physical hardware. Some games publishers have region specific games to comply with that regions laws/standards (an easy example springs to mind is the Teenage tutrle games that in USA/Asia where called ninja tutrles, yet in the UK where called Hero Turtles).

There has/can be a real stink with this in arcade games, although this is dying with the lack of arcades.

as I mentioned above there also could be issues with region specifics to how the hardware runs, eg: the usa won't allow 128 bit encyption, yet europe does, I think there are also a difference in wireless encyption issues. So there could be legitimate issues for example a 2 player game in europe may have a wirless encryption key of 128 bit, but because of the firmware on the USA version of the kit the game would not work on a USA console (just a simple example)

We can have a go at Sony, they have treated Europe poorly in the past and they are showing that they still don't really care. We get games/consoles much later than USA/Japan at highly inflated prices. Which means Sony are making more money from us.

If you feel that hard done by - vote with your feet

[Stoo]

tbh that's rubbish, the trademark issue is pretty much the only way they can stop retailers from importing, and even that's very dodgy.

The USA does allow 128bit encryption, and in fact is recommended practise on banking websites etc, the exporting of high level encryption programs from the USA to "bad countries" is prohibited, but that has nothing to do with anything in this case (As the originating country is Japan..)

I don't want to have to vote with my feet, as I still want the PSP (bit like cutting off my nose to spite my face really..).

[beanbandit]

If you feel that hard done by - vote with your feet

I have, i'm one of the naughty people who's got an imported PSP. 4 months before the UK release. At the same price as the UK version. Games are the same price as UK. USA UMD's are cheaper. So i voted to import. I'm likely to import a PS3 as well.

[Tabris]

I wouldn't have expected Sony to take further action after Lik-Sang took the PSP off the items list when asked, but I guess they're makiing an example of the company as they're one of the largest known importers from Asia.

I don't get all the fuss about the PSP, it'll be another crappy handheld which will do well because of it's Sony namesake.

[beanbandit]

I don't get all the fuss about the PSP, it'll be another crappy handheld which will do well because of it's Sony namesake.

I take it you haven't played one? When you finally do get to play on one, you will realise what all the fuss is about.
It has nothing to do with the Sony "Namesake" as you put it. They have developed a very powerful machine into a very small footprint. Handhelds have never had this much power before, combined with movie playback, music and now Internet, it moving handhelds into a different market.

[Tabris]

I take it you haven't played one? When you finally do get to play on one, you will realise what all the fuss is about.

I have, I don't see the big fuss about it. It's a nice console, but I think it's been overhyped.

As with the majority of games on the Playstation, once the initial wave of original games comes along, we'll get a load of generic clone titles.