http://www.lik-sang.com/news.php?artc=3901

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.

What is the world coming to when it is illegal to buy your gaming paraphernalia from overseas instead of on shore

Something hasd to be done about this.

Of course Sony is claiming it is just sour grapes as they didn't turn up to fight it..... yeah, sorry Sony but not everyone can pull money out of their arse.

Surely if you create a product, you have the right to say what happens with it? That doesn't mean it doesn't suck, but be realistic.

Something hasd to be done about this.

sure - don't buy their products. convince as many other people as you can to take the same stance. they're not doing anything wrong, it's a simple case of them sucking, so you choosing not to help them profit.

Sony just cracked their own ass with the wip, they just lost their biggest retailer in Hong Kong.

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.

I wonder if Sony relise that the more they try and control and dictate how and what we do with their products the less we will want them.

I am certainly not knowingly purchasing anything of Sony untill they have a major turn around in how they deal with us consumers, same goes for EA.

EDIT: I remember reading a detailed article about how if Ultra-Big Companies like Sony and EA where seen as a real, single human being a psychoanalysis of the entity shows that they are psychopathic. Such as making greater profit for the sake of making greater profit with almost compleate disreguard for the 'other' people they effect.

last edited by Tollaz0r! at 09:36:03 25/Oct/06

Surely if you create a product, you have the right to say what happens with it? That doesn't mean it doesn't suck, but be realistic.

In Australia, this comes under 'Restriction of trade'. It's actually illegal here to dictate what you may not do with a product if you purchase it, which actually makes a lot of those software license agreements you see null and void over here.

i will also join this ban on buying sony products! not that i've ever bought a sony product before or considered buying one in the future :P sony have always been overpriced in .au anyways... spose thats why they get upset about everyone getting thier shiz from honkas... teh profits!?@#!@#

raven I don't see how your comment has anything to do with this - this issue is about locations a retailer is selling items to, not what the end user may not do with the product. even my own wording was off, I meant "...you have the right to say where it gets sold as a new product"

demon, you are changing the universe just by caring

Jim, that doesn't explain the fact that

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).

Okay for them to do, not not others?

kat you don't seem to be making sense. sony aren't trying to sue people for purchasing from liksang, they are trying to stop liksang from selling sony products intended for one geographic location, to another. so saying "okay for them to do, but not others?" is pointless because nobody is saying that it's not ok for others in the first place.

how does what you've pasted, have any bearing on this?

I wonder if Sony relise that the more they try and control and dictate how and what we do with their products the less we will want them.

Bingo - after I last tried to buy a Sony camera before my OS trip and discovered that none of my old memory cards would work in it - the only reason I really even WANTED a sony - I decided that I'm not buying any more Sony stuff, ever. Until they de-lame their stuff.

nice double negative kat~

Also I feel bad 'cos I recently bought my first sony product - cybershot digi cam :(

my decision to not purchace sony products was not initiated by caring, but because i didn't/don't have enough money or the product lacked appeal. as has now been scientifically proven, caring never changed nuffn! :D

kat: jim was saying (pending a final interpretation) that sony can dictate how thier product gets sold, from where & to whom. so yes, it is okay. :D perhaps the sony execs were buying from thier to collect evidence that the trader was selling sony products to people from a different region!

yeah i bought a sony cybershot dsc-n1 but im happy with that side of sony, i also have a sony wega tv

but i wouldnt by any of their game consoles, or even the lol blu-ray when thats available... so im a half rebel

Oh wait I forgot about the PS2 dammit.

I'm guessing they need to give each region some pre-determined coverage so that their sales predictions will pan out, after all they do put various sale tags on the same product in hope to rob countries (Australia) for that much more profit. Hong Kong selling to us would kind of lose Sony marginal profit yeah?

yeah I bought 3 sony cameras and a sony lcd in the past 12 months

shame on me, demon's fishies will be swimming a little less happily due to bad universal vibes, despite what he thinks scienticians have proven

:D

plus I want virtual fighter 5
oh the humanity :(

it makes me wonder if the different sony regions run under different profit percentages

if it was the same percentage, but the manufacturing and associated costs were different, then thats understandable to have different prices

but if the manufacturing and associated costs were the same, its a bit rich to try and charge aussies more than other countries etc

dunno, if they come out with a new Wipeout on Playstation 3 i might be forced to buy it ... eventually. i'll join the protest for 3 years, then i'm caving for wipeout

Tung, apprently that is what is seems to be. We live in Australia and seem to have more money to spend :(

Unfortunatly that model isn't limited to Sony :(

yeah I bought 3 sony cameras and a sony lcd in the past 12 months

Consumer whore!

kat you don't seem to be making sense. sony aren't trying to sue people for purchasing from liksang, they are trying to stop liksang from selling sony products intended for one geographic location, to another. so saying "okay for them to do, but not others?" is pointless because nobody is saying that it's not ok for others in the first place.

how does what you've pasted, have any bearing on this?

I just can't see how they can justify telling Lik-Sang they can't sell to Europe when in the next breath the European staff of Sony are receiving items from Lik-Sang.

http://dem0n.qgl.org/images/temp/sadfish.jpg

Sounds like short-circuiting their supply chain and supplanting transportation costs to my airline (for free!) is a loophole to me.

Kat should be working for the Sunday Mail with thread titles like this one.

Jim I think its unfair /illegal (at least here for now) to have a product and demand that it be sold $90 here, $30 in Hong Kong and $60 somewhere else.

If some one can purchase them in Hong Kong and ship them to here and sell them not $50. Whats so wrong with that ? ... thats capitalism at work ... thats a market economy and stuff.

Protected markets are bulls***, they don't work.

kat: I think it's justified because it's arguably illegal for liksang to do what they were doing, but it's not arguably illegal for sony europe staff to buy them. I can tell the direction you're coming from, but I just think it's more of an emotional response than a logical one


demon: I lol in your general direction =]


obes: have you tried putting yourself in the shoes of a multi-national supplier of elecrtonic goods and considered all the obligations you might have to people all around the world in different countries governed by different local laws, and how those differing cirumstances might affect the ongoing cost of the legal obligation of supporting/warranting those products? that's just the first thing that comes to my mind when I try to imagine why sony would charge different values for similar/identical things in different countries - I'm sure there's several reasons other than or at least in addition to "check it out, aussies are easily parted with cash let's hit em up".

let's just say, for arguments' sake that hitting us up is the only reason. maybe then ask your own question about capitalism, of yourself - in the context of them selling things at different prices.

what's so wrong with that? can't that just be written off as "capitalism at work ... market economy and stuff" as well?


if it works for them it's only because we as consumers accept it, even if begrudgingly.

It's because certain companies own the distribution rights in each country. I wanted to import some xbox's not long ago and had a chat to customs about it. They said not to do it because Microsoft will halt the import at the border and bust u for it. Same with Apple. The companies retain the distribution rights, or have contracts with other companies to act as sole distributers for the products.

The customs dude said that microsoft, apple, etc etc are extremely anal about it and bust EVERYONE who tries to import multiple items.

I think this Sony thing may be a somewhat similar scenario, although I haven't bothered reading the article...

It's not exactly price fixing...but is at the same time. If u can control the first-link price, then the final retail price is controlled to a large extent.

But yeah, as i said i can't be f***ed reading into it - just another s*** kat thread afaic.

Oh yeah jim is correct too. It f***s up the warranty systems the companies have in place too.

There were some other reasons the customs dude told me about as well, but I can't remember them all.

Anyway, who gives a s*** if some asian store got busted for selling to europe - what the f*** does it have to do with us anyway.

Sony sell to retailers. If they want to try and tell retailers what to do with their product once they buy it off them maybe Sony should allow the public to buy directly from them.

They refuse to sell to the public and still want to dictate what the resellers do.

Cake and eat it to much?

you've eaten way too much cake already kat

Hmm cake.

Look I know I come across as a stupid blonde bimbo who has no grasp of reality - but I do mean good, really!

no u r

Anyway, who gives a s*** if some asian store got busted for selling to europe - what the f*** does it have to do with us anyway.

Well in this case, Europe is us as well.

That officially sucks. Lik Sang was one of the few reliable ways to get decent legitimate foreign games sent to you.

Well in this case, Europe is us as well.

What's the US got to do with us lol?

But all those people that work at Sony and have bought PSPs off them probably had diddly squat to do with the decision to sue lik sang.

Just because they work for Sony and have fancy titles, doesn't mean they're the people behind this decision.

I find it more wrong that they've released customers' names to the public. I don't know why I find it wrong, just do.

Worst cop out ever jim.

The whole point of regionalisation is try and run different pricing schemes in different countries.

Whats the point of living in a place with a better standard of living if the retailers rape you for it ?

Whats the point of owning a worked 4x4 if your woman rapes your manhood?

That's it, I'm buying an xbox, a wii and a DS just to spite sony, not to mention the ps3 is gonna suck balls anyway

what a crazy drunk obes, asif it's a cop out. you were the one who suggested capitalism and market economy, and I agree with that idea, but with the shoe on the other foot as well - not just in my own favour as you appear to be pushing. and I don't see why you're so opposed to that point of view

I'm not sure why you raise the point of standard of living either - the good thing about living in democratic, capitalism-'friendly' countries like ours, (and I use the term friendly in a very relative sense), is that you don't have to buy a sony product. you don't need one, you're not forced to. if you get raped by a retailer, more often than not it's because you chose to accept it.

sure, I don't like having to pay more than I think something is worth either - but I don't try and fool myself into thinking that "wah it's not fair, this is wrong whinge whine". I either make a stand and refuse to pay the cash, or I cop it sweet and decide that wanting the item is more important to me than making a stand.

you should be buying HK dollars, not PSPs :)

http://www.economist.com/finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=6972477

As someone that works in a multi-national hardware/software engineering and manufacturing company, I can't say I'm sorry to see a "Grey Import/Export" operation shut down. It's pretty damn specific that you can't do that sort of thing.

Few things make my blood boil that f***nuts who grey import their electronics, and then expect CUSTOMER SERVICE and warranty coverage from local support phone lines. (And no, not all CSRs are based in India, thanks.)

There's also certain trade laws in place when exporting goods from out of China territories to other countries. Even shipping out a box of promotional T-Shirts and mousepads from there to the US can require some rerouting. Sony probably wanted to nip that one in the bud before it ventured into illegal territory.

For the record, my faith in Sony has deteriorated over the years...so I don't really like them much as I used to - but I commend their actions in this instance.

Why the f*** would you buy a sony LCD? /me slaps jim upside the head WTF is wrong with you they are the biggest ripoff in LCD's since the biggest scam last known to mankind.

ive always preferred aiwa to sony

I know a genuine Panafonic when I see one.

I saw it, I wanted, I bought it
I then immediately moved on with my life and wasted no time worrying about whether I had the best possible lcd tv to impress nerds on a web forum, or waste my extremely valuable time trying to save a few dopey dollars

slap away, slappy boy

same goes for EA.

I refuse to touch anything to do with f***** EA ever again. EVER EVER EVER EVER.

after 2142 completely f***ing over my computer something so chronic I want to smash one of the execs in the face.

after 2142 completely f***ing over my computer something so chronic I want to smash one of the execs in the face.

heh how on earth did you buy it after playing the demo

Maybe he meant the demo f***ed his computer.