Posted Oct 24, 2006 at 01:20PM by Karl B. Listed in: News Tags: Lik-Sang, SCEE
Ó

SonyEarlier today, Lik-Sang announced that it's closing its doors after losing an IPR lawsuit laid against the company by Sony. Along with the announcement, Lik-Sang also released a statement, which included a juicy little tidbit that listed a veritable who's who of SCEE execs who bought PSP hardware and software from Lik-Sang. Now, we've gotten word that Sony is crying foul and has denied any responsibility for the online retailer's demise, accusing Lik-Sang of sour graping.

In a statement issued to GamesIndustry.biz, Sony claimed, "Lik-Sang did not contest this case (i.e. they did not turn up and therefore incurred no legal costs). We have been awarded substantial costs against Lik-Sang which have not been paid."

"We would therefore strongly deny that our actions have had anything to do with this website closing (we assume the legal entity is still trading), and would suggest that this release is sour grapes on behalf of Lik-Sang which is aimed to belittle Sony Computer Entertainment and the British judicial system that found against them," the statement further reads.

Lik-SangRegarding the issue of SCE executives purchasing imported PSP hardware and software from Lik-Sang, Sony responded by saying, "The purchasing of PSP consoles by SCE employees would be for investigatory purposes. We would also like to express our surprise at a company releasing personal information about its consumers, as this is contrary to data protection principles around the world."

While Sony seems to be taking the higher ground in this post-courtroom battle of words, Lik-Sang has yet to respond or reveal more about the alleged business deals that the company had with SCEE execs. Lik-Sang is also currently working overtime on cancelling and refunding all of the existing orders that they have in their books.

Thanks lauwens for the heads up!


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97 Comments


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   by evoGage (Unregistered) - 2006-10-24
 » .

Can't believe Lik-Sang has closed!

   by Matthew (Unregistered) - 2006-10-24
 » Sony...

What a frikkien cover up. Dammit, SONY!

   by Your Mother (Unregistered) - 2006-10-24
 » .

F-UCK Sony! I hope those d-amn b-astards choke on their s-hitty PS3s with no rumble feature, 9 price tag, no games and c-rap that they can't sell. This is WAY too far. WAR ON SONY

   by dg10050 (Unregistered) - 2006-10-24
 » F*ck you Sony.

I hope all Sony exec.'s burn in hell...

   by Vipre77 - 2006-10-24
 » If it weren't so sad, it'd be funny

They're not responsible? Hahaha! Good one! Let's see... They seemed to be doing just fine before that last round of lawsuits that were filed by who? Oh yeah. Sony. But that's just a coincidence, right?

   by truth (Unregistered) - 2006-10-24
 » don't know, don't care

Cry me a River...

Immersion, you're next!!!
11/17 3 weeks away!!!

   by Gamer (Unregistered) - 2006-10-24
 » However

I believe this is true out of that "Regarding the issue of SCE executives purchasing imported PSP hardware and software from Lik-Sang, Sony responded by saying, "The purchasing of PSP consoles by SCE employees would be for investigatory purposes. We would also like to express our surprise at a company releasing personal information about its consumers, as this is contrary to data protection principles around the world."

If you were/are an employer of a company who produced hardware goods, i'd think you want to investigate big time companies anyway don't you think? But on the contrary, it could be a cover up. But, whatever nothing you can do now.

   by Critines (Unregistered) - 2006-10-24
 » .

WHAT THE FUCCK HAS OUR WORLD COME TO?!?!? Our world is not moving forward but is going back into the past and we will all be under a dictatorship soon enough.


   Re: Advertising -


   Re: CHUCKINGROCKSATSPACESHIPS - 2006-10-24
 » True

Sad but I see it everyday. We don't own anything. We are all owned.
   by lawl (Unregistered) - 2006-10-24
 » nice, lik-sang was getting way out of hand

they were stealing people's personal info and violating copyright laws and international trade rules. They got what was coming to them.


   Re: dreary79 - 2006-10-24
 » International trade

I know what you mean... International trade is illegal.

   Re: I Hate Stupid ppl (and $ony) (Unregistered) - 2006-10-24
 » yeah, think before you talk

wtf lawl?^

Lik-Sang.com has only been one of the finest and nicest import companies I have even bought from and selling PSPs worldwide should break no rule. And they don't "steal" personal info, idiot. It comes on the fricken order form.

   Re: lawl (Unregistered) - 2006-10-24
 » no, it's illegal to trade something accross the world without permission.

First, I hate lik-sang. They tried to steal my personal info by requiring me to send them photo coppies of my creditcard and signature and I.D.

Secondly, you can't sell something owned by a company (sony) from one country to another (china to europe) without permission. So yes, they violated the law, they were stealing personal info, they deserved to die.

   Re: jbcseawolves (Unregistered) - 2006-10-24
 » totally agree

people stop taking up for lik-sang they broke the law they suffer the consiquences

   Re: name name name (Unregistered) - 2006-10-24
 » yeah!

nice one sony :D
   by sob (Unregistered) - 2006-10-24
 » sob

cant say that sony is doing the best thing for what fans they have left and i cant say i wont miss linksang i mean where am i going to go to get that dreamcast part thats out of stock?..... linksang was good its a shame sony in general became a pile of pr!cks but hey in this cold world what are we going do. sony is going be droping out of the game if the ps3 fails and when looking at wii i dont think they stand a chance they might want to huddle with sega to get some information on whats going to happen to them


   Re: . (Unregistered) - 2006-10-24
 » .

What the hell are you talking about everybody knows that wii is going to suck.
   by Advertising -
   by Ya boy NYC (Unregistered) - 2006-10-24
 » Fluck sony and the ps3

i got an email from them today sayin: sorry but ur nintendo wii order has been canceled thanks to us closing down. Good Job Sony u just lost a fan.


   Re: _-_ (Unregistered) - 2006-10-24
 » Fluck sony and the ps3

So let me get this straight, because your Wii order was canceled, Sony lost a customer? Sounds to me like Nintendo just did.
   by egreg (Unregistered) - 2006-10-24
 » forget

i am not buying a ps3. they can shove it up there poo holes


   Re: rofl (Unregistered) - 2006-10-24
 » who cares

if you're gonna buy a ps3 or not lol it doesn't affect them at all ;)
   by truth (Unregistered) - 2006-10-24
 » LOL

it's like someone's best friend got shot, LOL

Keep jumpin ship everyone!!! Means I'll have a PS3 earlier :)

Y'all act like there aren't other sites that do the exact same thing that aren't shut down... yet.

Quit your whining, adapt, and move on. Sheez.

   by DiabloTerrorGF - 2006-10-24
 » Lik-sang's e-mail:

Dear valued customer,

unfortunately, Lik Sang is forced to close its virtual doors for good. This
comes as a consequence of the several legal actions brought on us by Sony.
For more information on the situation, please point your browser to the
following link:

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

Therefore, as soon as humanly possible, we will cancel all existing orders,
including yours, and issue refunds where necessary.

Please note that it may take anywhere from a few days up to a week or two
for refunds to be processed by PayPal, your bank or your credit card
company, so please don't worry if you don't see it immediately on your
balance statement. You can rest assured that Lik-Sang is monitoring the
situation closely with all involved parties. No single customer will be
caught in the crossfire of this ordeal.

We are sorry to have to go, and we wish to thank you sincerely your support
over the past decade.

Warm regards and a big THANK YOU from the entire Hong Kong crew.

Team Lik-Sang

   by danho (Unregistered) - 2006-10-24
 » world trade...

This means that sites like yes-asia and other sites that export consoles will be going down soon...

Europe will stay in the stone-ages of consoles while the rest of the world gets their systems faster than us...

Thanks $ony for $hit


   Re: ohnad (Unregistered) - 2006-10-24
 » hmmm...

i always wonder about this kind of people, if you hate $ony so much, why even bother to buy $hit from them? Go create your own $hit if you think you're that great ;)
   by NitrogenB (Unregistered) - 2006-10-24
 » I know fer real

people in here need to grow up man, it aint like that's the only site that sells stuff like that. You break the law, you get caught...period...end of story...there should be no more discussion, except from tards who weren't getting a ps3 in the first place....continue.

   by Confused (Unregistered) - 2006-10-24
 » Law?

Someone want to explain exactly what law Lik-Sang broke by importing PSPs other than pissing off $ony by cutting in to their monopoly?

   by Advertising -
   by Bad Intentions - 2006-10-24
 » Wow.

This encourages me to pirate Sony things. Well actually.. Sony doesn't make software. =(


   Re: Stickin it to $ony (Unregistered) - 2006-10-24
 » Homebrew

No, but you can tick em off by running homebrew, lol.

   Re: whatever (Unregistered) - 2006-10-24
 » pirate

even if this incident doesn't occur, i bet that you're already pirating almost everything that could be pirated, like all of us here do ;p and don't come telling me that you're not using even ONE pirated software ;)
   by unregistered (Unregistered) - 2006-10-24
 » buncha babies!!!

relax! the world is not over! All you jump the gunners will continue buying Sony products regardless of some small unknown internet trading site shutting down...I bet half of you crybabies have never even bought a damn thing from Lik Sang..."Wahhh my favorite site got shut down for doing illegal s%$*!" If your damn company was losing money from a website you'd have it shut down too!! So quit crying and move on!!!!!


   Re: Only users lose drugs (Unregistered) - 2006-10-25
 » buyer

I used Liksang about 2-3 times per month. I bought an import PSP from them 1 year before it was released in the UK, and even with £50 import charges, it still cost LESS than the UK official price tag. Sony is bitter, because they lost out on ripping off a few European punters with their rip-off prices. All of you who say Liksang were breaking the law, and deserved to go down had best be careful of trading in your PS games in future, as that also seems to be losing the almighty Sony a couple of bucks, and they'll probably start taking out legal procedures on Johnny Public sometime soon... As for the comment earlier about having to send personal info to Liksang, after approx 40+ transactions with them, I was NEVER asked to do this. I'll miss you Liksang - Just be assured that there won't be as much grieving when the PS3 takes Sony down.
   by DAZ (Unregistered) - 2006-10-24
 » LOL

awwwww!!! shall i buy a tissue so u can all drown ur tears. Im rather worried about how serious people are taking this. At the end of the day, Sony can't sue someone through thin air. Lik-Sang have broke trading laws and Sony has every right to sue. Sony is an international business, they're there to make money not give things away, hence why most of you *****ing probably arent great at business. I wonder what half of you would say if MS was to sue Lik-Sang, bet all you lot moaning wouldnt bat an eye-lid. But then again, i wouldnt expect more from people who's main thing in life is to support a games machine.

Its business people. U do something illegal, sadly, you'll get punished


   Re: i have no name (Unregistered) - 2006-10-24
 » LOL

Obviously majority of the people here are kids that know nothing but whining ;)
   by soopergooman - 2006-10-24
 » my opinion counts more than yours.

Thats what you get for selling goods that are not to be sold in any other country. It'd be like if I was selling levi jeans in Russia, levi's would sue the pants off me(pun intended). You reap what you sow. They ripped off sony by selling their products to places where they were told not to. They did it anyway and wham bam sued. So what do they do? They put out a statement making sony out to be the bad guy. When in actuallity they are the ones ripping off Sony. Well to all you lik sang suckers go and sell off ur sony stuff because you don't deserve it anyway.
IN MY OPINION!

   by Anonymous Coward (Unregistered) - 2006-10-24
 » hmm......

thats a way of commiting that sony rips off europeans. sony is a company who existis to make money so it wouldnt matter if japan or france or US. 599€(europe 60GB) instead of 418€(japan 60GB) seems to matter ^-^. so intellectual property rights just a farce

   by Annonymous Coward (Unregistered) - 2006-10-24
 » Sony have shot themselves in the foot!!

I just had my order of the GTA UMD cancelled by Liksang, I had a feeling it was due to these legal proceedings.

   by Samba (Unregistered) - 2006-10-24
 » sucks

one less spot to get the goofy accessories and gadgets for my systems. I still use the all-in-one DC/N64/Xbox/PSuX adapter I bought for like 9 bux, and the pistol grips I for my PSP and GBA.

I don't blame sony, cuz w/o them I wouldn't have Devhook... I mean a PSP.

   by soopergooman - 2006-10-24
 » awldkIfhasliofh;oejrtlnekhHATEsorgsdnbfjlsdkfjhs;odfjgsnfgjhsd;ofghskldnfglksnd;ftgsydpofgijhd;tmyr[to7y-[w0r8tw984657245i6h34l6ywjkdhfog8s6tdr987y4h563n457CRYBABIESl.n3 e;on897g6we756t9208u569ngu5906qe6t27yh;46on46;l7h468m4op5utbyw09et76y967uyh45okn78b;5

get ur gta vcs at a respectable dealer like EB or GameStop or Microplay or WalMart or THE SONY STORE or PLAY ASIA or Zellers or Harods or Radio Shack or Best BUY or Circuit City or outta ma a$$ watteva store that can legally sell it.

   by Dude (Unregistered) - 2006-10-24
 » Sony

Kind of sucks nowadays...

   by Sony has been run by *****s lately... (Unregistered) - 2006-10-24
 » Nintendo Wii here I come!!!

Sony has been run by *****s lately...

   by mo (Unregistered) - 2006-10-24
 » cover up

I smell cover up! Damn Sony.


   Re: moo (Unregistered) - 2006-10-24
 » yeah

i smell fart! damn you :p
   by $onyF@n (Unregistered) - 2006-10-24
 » LOL

Lik-Sang and their Euro buddies just got PWNT. Money, money, money...that's what it all comes down to. Sony is doing something SMART. All of you guys who hate Microsoft and their crappy software are hippocrites. Sony is doing what Bill Gates and Co. did: try to MONOPOLIZE. It eliminates unneeded competition. Sk337 sauce.

Cry me a river if Lik-Sang went down.

You're gonna have to wait in line to get your PS3 and Wii now...just like everyone else. No 1337 hax way for you to be ahead of everyone else. LOL!

Lastly, if your a Euro and wanna PS3, make a trip here to the States during Christmas to see what the frenzy's all about! Especially in Vegas. BYAHHHHH!


   Re: .... (Unregistered) - 2006-10-24
 » yeah

its a friggin game console. get a grip of yourself.

"how do you kill that which has no life??" haha
   by Figboy - 2006-10-24
 » sigh

what people should really be upset about is the demise of a talented developer like Clover Studios, you know, the people that make the amazing video games we buy from stores and online.

Lik Sang broke the law. period. Sony tried to stop them from selling their stuff illegally before. they didn't listen, now they are reaping what they've sown, much like Immersion.

yeah, it's dissappointing that some of you guy's favorite online store is closing down, but there are others. get over it.

i'm going to go play Okami and Viewtiful and mourn the loss of something more important than this.


   Re: GaveUpTomorrow - 2006-10-24
 » Perfectly Said

Lets all defend the wrong doer here (Sarcasm). If Lik-Sang was doing something against law, and a Judge ruled against them, they got what was coming to them. I could care less about the website anyways...doesn't effect me anyways.. Their business lost just means another sites business will go up..

   Re: pauridius - 2006-10-24
 » Still a stupid law IMO

I liked Liksang. I ordered converters from there, came on time. And NO they didn't steal my personal Info. Everyone who said they did is lying.
RIP Liksang ;_;

   Re: photoboy (Unregistered) - 2006-10-25
 » Lik-Sang

Yeah it's a shame that Clover has been closed, but speaking as someone in the UK I needed Lik-Sang to be able to play Clover's games. Okami doesn't come out over here till some time next year. So we needed Lik-Sang just as much as we needed Clover. And let's not forget it's Sony's fault Lik-Sang closed. Clover closed (allegedly) because the games weren't selling well enough. One is the fault of the consumer and the other the fault of a large corporation throwing their weight around to gain a monopoly on a market.

   Re: Vietone - 2006-10-25
 » They could have done it legally.

International LAW is still law.

The reason they don't allow international sales without permission is so that certain contraband doesn't get shipped where its not legal to have possession of it.

Its like buying drugs from a different country where its legal and importing it to America where it is illegal.

Also what most people don't realize is that an imported system gets 0 warranty. Most people who have a problem call Sony and complain, then when the time comes that they find out the system was for a different region, its alot of wasted time to see if the console was purchased in the region it was made for, or if it was imported.

Support cost Money, every company does this, Microsoft is no different. This is no different then Microsoft annoying the hell out of people with the Windows Genuine Advantage software until they buy a valid version of windows.

Everyone here cant talk ***** about Sony unless you have done nothing illegal. If you download music, movies, games, anything that you don't already own. Then every word you say negative about Sony being responsible for lik-sang carries absolutely NO WEIGHT.

Its a stupid LAW when it prevents the PS3 from being imported to different reasons. But then people turn around and say What a great law, its keeping unapproved overseas drugs from being sold in america.


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