Lik-Sang.com Taken to Court By Sony

Joe writes "As published on Lik-Sang's Website Sony has taken legal actions against Hong Kong's largest exporter of videogames and videogaming gear. One month before the official european launch and 9 months after the initial release of the PSP, this action looks very late at first sight. Since it's highly doubtful that Sony can permit the resale of the japanese PSP consoles in Hong Kong no matter if on the local market or for export, it looks like this is planned to be one of the not the bright marketing ideas of the Sony HQ. The japanese PSP has the same Region Code for UMDs as the ones which will be sold in europe in september. Since the shipping at Lik-Sang is free, the console is even cheaper to import than to buy it locally."

Say that again?

[scovetta]

Since it's highly doubtful that Sony can permit the resale of the japanese PSP consoles in Hong Kong no matter if on the local market or for export, it looks like this is planned to be one of the not the bright marketing ideas of the Sony HQ.

Sorry, I don't mean to be the grammar-police on Monday morning, but that's just plain terrible.

I'll translate:

Since it's highly doubtful that Sony can permit the resale of the Japanese PSP consoles in Hong Kong (whether or not they are available for export), this seems to be a rather poor marketing idea coming from Sony's headquarters.

Mod parent up

[The Hobo]

I couldn't decipher the summary properly until I read the parent's post

Re:Cheaper?

[Anonymous Coward]

Poster needs a grammar check... Or possibly an English lesson... It looks like the output of babelfish...

.. this action looks very late at first sight.

This action looks very late at first glance.

Since it's highly doubtful that Sony can permit the resale of the japanese PSP consoles in Hong Kong no matter if on the local market or for export, it looks like this is planned to be one of the not the bright marketing ideas of the Sony HQ.

Since it's highly doubtful that Sony can prevent the resale of the japanese PSP consoles in Hong Kong (on the local market or for export), it looks like this poor plan is one of the most bone-headed marketing ideas from Sony HQ.

Constant Target

[ChrisF79]

Lik-Sang has been a constant target for legal issues in the past. I remember a couple of years ago they were selling lots of mod chips and other "hacks" for systems until Nintendo (I believe) put an end to that. I doubt this is the last time we'll read about a Lik-Sang lawsuit in the near future.

It is not cheaper to import to the UK...

[PhotoBoy]

Since the shipping at Lik-Sang is free, the console is even cheaper to import than to buy it locally.

It is not cheaper to import to the UK. While the price at Lik-Sang for a PSP minus shipping is cheaper than what the UK PSP price will be, you will always get charged import tax plus. Customs seem to know Lik-Sang and they always slap on the import tax. Plus the courier e.g. UPS, DHL et al always put a surcharge on top of the tax because they pay the tax for you at customes and then demand a cheque when they arrive at your door.

So overall it comes out to be more expensive to import by about £20 or so. Still, if importing annoys Sony then I'm all for it, since I don't see why they should be allowed to dictate who can and cannot sell PSPs, it's just a monopoly.

Re:Region codes

[Anonymous Coward]

You are totally right, region codes sucks and are an obsolete technology from the 80s when nintendo used it on their NES.

Uh, what? They still perform a business function. How are they obsolete?

Why do we have to buy another movie in region 4 when i already have it in region 1?

Because different corporations own the rights to sell the movie in different parts of the world and the region code scheme enforces that. Look on your R1 DVD - it'll say "not for resale outside the US and Canada" or similar. If you are from the US and bought it legally there, you'll have an R1 player, right?

The world isn't a single global market - yet.

Re:It is not cheaper to import to the UK...

[KDR_11k]

They have a subsidiary, Lik-Sang Europe. They only stock the stuff you could buy 'round here anyway and all games are still shipped from Hongkong. The PSP isn't on their european list, either.