Lik-Sang responds to Sony's 'sour grapes' jibe

Lik-Sang has continued its war of words with Sony over lawsuits which the Hong Kong retailer cites as responsible for its closure, arguing that a number of the PlayStation company's statements in court and since have been misleading or contradictory.

Marketing manager Pascal Clarysse, who has since left Lik-Sang, says that the retailer "spent over a year to vigorously contest the UK court's jurisdiction", despite Sony's claim earlier this week that the retailer made no representations.

He also disputes Sony's claim that employees who allegedly purchased import PlayStation Portable consoles from Lik-Sang as early as December 2004 were doing so for "investigatory purposes", as Sony argued on Tuesday.

"Oddly enough, all investigatory orders that were revealed by Sony to the High Court in London and to the High Court in Hong Kong started much later than the purchases placed by [Sony employees]," Clarysse says.

"Further to this, Sony Europe's own Legal and Business Affairs Manager signed a witness statement in the High Court of London that says that Sony Europe 'became aware' of parallel imported PSP consoles in the UK and in the rest of Europe only in March 2005, and the same witness statement presents a trainee solicitor from Sony's lawyers as the one placing such investigatory orders during May 2005."

With Lik-Sang now out of business, the situation looks bleak for other importers of foreign hardware, but, says Clarysse, it is the human cost that's being felt most now that the dust is settling on this episode. "Unfortunately for Lik-Sang, the current situation is neither a joke, nor a game: A bunch of people, including two highly pregnant women, have lost their basis for existence because of corporate lawsuits for something that is not only regarded as lawful in Hong Kong, it is considered to be beneficial for consumers (free trade)."

Sony declined to comment on Lik-Sang's statement.