Sony Sues Over PSP Imports

An anonymous reader writes "Although the official European launch isn't until September, Europeans have already been able to buy imported PSPs. Sony has sent out a batch of cease and desist letters, claiming that selling the PSP without permission violates their trademarks. The Register reports on the legal fight between Sony and online retailler ElectricBirdLand." From the article: "The Japanese manufacturer is claiming infringement of Trade Mark. But one reseller at the receiving end of the legal nastygrams, ElectricBirdLand, claims that key technologies, trademarks and software utilised in Sony's new portable gaming platform have not even been registered by Sony in the UK. For example, the PSP trademark has apparently been registered by a small Bristol-based IT and design firm, called Owtanet."

Comments

Re:Hmm...

[sesshomaru]

They aren't money grubbing scumbags, it's a different acronym, see their Website:

PSP® E-Commerce

In fact, this shouldn't affect Sony's trademark at all, since Sony is tradmarking a portable media player, and they have trademarked an ecommerce solution. The trademarks don't overlap.

Re:What's mine is your?

[kannibal_klown]

I do not know what reselling laws are in other countries, but last I checked once I purchased a product, whether it be a pizza, car or Computer I am now OWNER of said product. Therefore I can do whatever the hell I want with it.

Depends. Retailers don't just go onto a webpage and order x-thousand PSP's so they can sell them at various outlets. They usually contact a distributor (perhaps Sony itself) and hash out an agreement to sell PSP's. These agreements are in the form of contracts with stipulations that must be followed.
For example:

• Retail chain A decides it wants to sell PSP's
• Retail chain B contacts Sony and lets them know of their intent.
• Sony agrees, but makes them sign a contract.
  • Contract states the quantity or pricing scale for PSP units.
  • Term 1 says Retailer A cannot sell to certain countries where PSP has not been officially released.
  • MAYBE Term 2 says Retailer cannot sell en-masse to a 3rd party retailer. That 3rd party retailer must contact an official distributor or Sony itself.
• Retail A sells PSP's to 3rd party B in another country
• Sony gets pissy because selling to certain countries is in breach of contract.

I'm not saying this is the case here. But retailers have to jump through hoops where-as consumers just have to shell out the cash.

Re:I know UK copyright law fairly well...

[Andy_R]

If you knew the law well, you'd know about the Tesco v Levi case, where Levi pulled exactly the same crap to stop us from buying 501s at real-world prices and won.

Here's the BBC's write up on the case