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Lik-Sang Is Out Of Business
AKAImBatman writes "Thanks to Sony's heavy handed tactics, popular game importer Lik-Sang is closing its doors. All Lik-Sang customers are having their orders cancelled and refunded. Any attempt to place a new order redirects your web browser to the news of Lik-Sang's demise." From the announcement: "'Today is Sony Europe victory about PSP, tomorrow is Sony Europe's ongoing pressure about PlayStation 3. With this precedent set, next week could already be the stage for complaints from Sony America about the same thing, or from other console manufacturers about other consoles to other regions, or even from any publisher about any specific software title to any country they don't see fit. It's the beginning of the end... of the World as we know it', stated Pascal Clarysse, formerly known as the Marketing Manager of Lik-Sang.com. 'Blame it on Sony. That's the latest dark spot in their shameful track record as gaming industry leader. The Empire finally won, a few dominating retailers from the UK probably will rejoice the news, but everybody else in the gaming world lost something today.'" Many thanks to Sony for ruining it for the rest of us. I hope that your business model makes up for the customer goodwill you're lighting on fire today. Update: 10/24 21:34 GMT by Z : Eurogamer has Sony's response to Lik-Sang's accusations.
If you're not already Boycotting Sony for their misdeeds, then I call upon you to stop purchasing ALL Sony products. Yes, that means no PSP, PS3, or PS2 stuff. (The PS2 and PSP games can be purchased used without majorly impacting a boycott, but it's better if anything Sony sits on the shelf.) More importantly, though, we have to hit Sony where it hurts! Which means no more Sony movies, music, and television.
That means that we can't watch, purchase, or rent popular movies like:
It also means that we need to stop watching popular television shows like:
Understandably, some of these are very entertaining pictures/shows that I (and I'm sure many others) would enjoy seeing. Unfortunately, a complete boycott means that every Sony product line must fail. So I ask you all, politely and humbly, will you boycott Sony? There is no excuse for their behavior, and I cannot in good conscience allow my dollars to support that behavior. If you feel the same way, then I would ask you to LOUDLY proclaim that you are joining the boycott.
Thank you.
P.S. If anyone has Sony contact info, please post it. A flood of angry but well-worded letters will help Sony pay attention to our displeasure.
P.P.S. Read the Lik-Sang announcement for yourself! Apparently, Sony Europe's execs are big customers of Lik-Sang!
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
You are only hurting your business, and complementing your competition.
Just like the above posters, I will not recommend nor buy anything from Sony. They are a hack company, and I'm done with them.
Love,
Kieth (Manager EB Games #47564)
I wonder if play-asia.com are worried?
Build a man a fire and he'll be warm for an hour. Set him on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.
See, you do understand.
~Rebecca
Boycotts don't work because consumers don't like giving stuff up.
In this case, you could always just pirate it instead of buying. Still gives them mindshare, but no profits. Seem to me that's the only way you'd ever accomplish a Sony boycott.
Consumers are sheep; unless provided an equally-attractive alternative, they'll never really give anything they enjoy up, no matter how repugnant its production might be.
"Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
They were bypassing Sony's "official" channels and hurting their ability to price discriminate.
The 'grey market' is an equalizer; it's a basically unified marketplace that defies the attempts of the monopolists to charge different prices for the same thing in different places, by taking advantage of the cheap global transportation that we're blessed with today.
This is why it's so hated.
"Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
Would you like to just temporarily remove those Sony salesman's genitals from your mouth and repeat what you just said? I couldn't understand you the first time...
Gentoo Linux - another day, another USE flag.
Didn't think so!
Ever since Sony acquired large media properties, the old Sony has been slowly dismantled piece by piece, as one horrible business decision after another is foisted on the consumer by the influence of the media divisions. If Sony wasn't so concerned about defending their media units (dvds,cds,film,etc.), we wouldn't have had things like the root kit fiasco, crippled MP3 players, and $600 gaming systems. We also might have a company that focuses on what they did best, delivering consumer electronics to a willing market.
This is just the latest in a string of strong arm tactics from a company that has lost its roots and its way. Apparently, hitting them in the wallet is the only chance of getting them to change. Maybe if the PS3 flops, they will be forced to reexamine their structure and strategy.
I'm all for the calls of BOYCOTT! I wasn't going to buy an overpriced PS3 anyways, but I'm not going to be buying other Sony products either.
Lik-Sang was a great, quirky outfit. They'll be sorely missed!
1. Enough people participate to make the cost of ignoring the boycott greater than the cost savings or revenue increase associated with whatever actions prompted the boycott.
2. The company that is being boycotted sees the boycott as being a long-term issue.
The following factors increase the likelihood of a boycott working against Sony:
1. Sony depends on volume sales for profitability. Their non-unit costs are significant (advertising, marketing, admin costs, etc) which means that they need to sell a lot of units of each product to make a profit.
2. Sony is aware of the bad rep they are accumulating. Should that rep cross over into the mainstream, it could _really_ hurt their bottom line. Companies with already-weak public images are more vulnerable to boycotts.
There are some factors that help Sony withstand a boycott:
1. Most of their products are non-commodity goods. One cannot simply substitute movie X from Sony with movie Y from Columbia/Tristar in the market. This is true of any of their IP-derived products (music, games, etc), so consumers are less likely to go without the Sony product. This is especially true with the game industry, as the field of competitors is very small.
2. Sony is an extremely large company with deep pockets. It's quite possible that they can weather any smaller boycott of a few years duration (and given the short-term memory of at least the American consumer, even a few years is more than enough).
3. Sony is a global corporation, and the larger the scale of a boycott, the harder it is to pull off.
I'm sure I've missed a lot of factors, but it is a fallacy to believe that boycotts don't work. Any company that ignores their customer base for too long will inevitably lose market share (unless, of course, there are market inequities (like monopoly status for IP distribution)) to their competitors.
My point is that a boycott WILL help (if only only a small scale), as long as it's a vocal boycott that hits the press. What's needed is a Sony insider to write a scathing tell-all book that makes the non-fiction best-seller list
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
What did they do anyway that was so illegal or wrong?
I don't know about EU law, but US law makes it illegal to import trademarked items (even if they are real) for resale without the trademark owner's (written) permission 0 if the owner is a US citizen or corporation. In effect, corporations with US operations can limit the gray market importation of their products if they have a US subsidiary. There are personal use exemptions - i.e. I can buy a Rolex in Switzerland and bring it to the US; since Congress amended the law to allow for personal use exemptions after they discovered that people were buying things overseas for their own us only to be faced with customs seizure when they got back.
In effect, it protects the US company's ability to exclusively market their goods - whether or not that is a good thing is a different story. Of course, the US sub is glad to sell as much of its product to tourists or whomever and let the other region's distributes worry about their lost sales.
Of course, companies can limit the profitability of the gray market by minimizing price differences around the world, although currency fluctuations will always open up arbitrage opportunities; and selling products widely instead of limiting some to specific regions. They also try to limit it by not offering world wide warranties; or, in the case of some car manufacturers, requiring you to agree to not export the vehicle within a certain amount of time after purchase.
I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
why would a UK court support that position?
Actually that is still an open question of weather the courts would uphold or throw out Sony's charges against Lik Sang were the case to be actually litigated.
A large company does not need actually enforcable legal claims in order to litigate a small company (or individual) into bankruptcy. Especially when they start filing lawsuits in fucking foreign courts. Lik Sang is a small Hong Kong company with no presense in the UK, and suddenly they find someone stuffing in they face a notice ok UK court proceedings against them.
One option is to simply ignoring the foreign court which has no juridiction against them, but that would mean the litigating party (Sony) would win any and all court motions by un-opposed default, no matter how bogus those court motions were, and the attacked company would eternally face the propect that that foreign monstrosity of bogus default rulings would come crashing down on them somehow some day. The eternal headache of an entire foreign legal system trying every method to strike at their business deallings and to get at Lik Sang iself, to enforce the unopposed default rulings against them.
Another option when you get that notice of foreign court action against you, is to rush out and locate and pay for some lawyer in that country, and to rush to supply that lawyer with the facts and other information of the case, and have him do his research and work to figure out the proper legal strategy and response to the case, and to manage to get that appropriate response filed with the court within the deadline listed on the court papers. Meeting that court deadline is really rough under those circumstances. And then of course you have to pay a legal team to actually fight out that legal battle for however long. And when you *do* take this option, going into that foreign court to argue the case usually involves an implict legal acknowledgement that you *accept* that that court has jurisdiction over you. You generally cannot both argue that the case against you is bogus *and* argue that the court you are in has no authority over you in the first place. By accepting the court's jurisdiction you are placing your head on the chopping block for that random foriegn nation's entire legal system... and you have been running your business perfectly legally under your LOCAL laws and god-knows how many ways you can get screwed because that random foriegn legal system is different.
And then of court there's the real killer... you go ahead and prepare to fight the good fight in the UK court room.... and before the judge ever rules on anything... you find yourself served with simultaneous court filings in the US and in Austrailia and in France and in Germany and every other country where Sony has lawyers already on in retainer. At which point it's all over. It doesn't matter if your business is 100% legal and if you would win each and every court case. A tiny company like Lik Sang cannot possibly afford the cost of a score or more of lawyers fighting multiple simultaneous court battles in various countries across the globe for years on end.
Oh, and lets not forget that Sony has been bleeding Lik Sang for YEARS with a series of LEGALLY BOGUS international lawsuits. For example here is a lawsuit over mod chips where Lik Sang was forced to give up the court fight and paid Sony an undislosed extortion payment to survive.... yet here is an ultimate Australian ruling on the issue showing that the mod chips (and Lik Sang's business) was perfectly legal in Australia and proving that Lik Sang was bled legal costs fighting a case where Lik Sang was in the right and paid Sony settlement $$$ to escape for a court battle where Lik Sang was in the right.
Lik Sang's business annoys Sony. It doesn't matter if Sony has any valid legal claim or not, Sony is big enough that the
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