If you hit up lik-sang.com for your next purchase you may see a note posted on their homepage that reads:
"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."
If you have made an order recently and have yet to receive your product you can expect a refund soon. Lik-Sang will not be taking any new orders for products due to these events and they say they're working with banks and PayPal to refund built up credit from their customer base.
The main issue revolves around the standards and regulations each country has towards devices being sold into their country. Lik-Sang will sell into these countries regardless of the countries safety standards towards voltage, etc. Sony is not a big fan of this action stating earlier to gameindustry.biz:
"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"
Sony is not happy with the "illegal sales" lik-sang.com is responsible for but refused to comment directly on the lik-sang lawsuit(s). Lik-Sang did not, however, have an issue with commenting:
"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."
Is Sony right in putting one of the main retailers for over 100 countries out of business?
source: lik-sang.com announcement
