Home Forums Business and Legal The Idiocy of Sony…again

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    • #4184
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Sony try a cease and desist order on importing PSPs into Europe by retailers rebel as Sony hasn’t secured trademarks for PSP or UMD within Europe which could lead to further delays for its release.
      Tthe ‘PSP’ initials are currently used by UK firm Owtanet Ltd for their Owtanet PSP software, standing for Publishing, Shopping and Profiles.
      The use of ‘UMD’ is being contested by processor manufacturer Advanced Micro Devices Inc. on the grounds that it is too similar to ‘AMD’.

      Sony trying bullying tactics again, but being called on it this time.

      http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=9290

    • #21701
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      I hate it when big corps try to bring smaller companies to court because they have already a registered brandname that the big corp wants to use. It’s like they are saying, hey, we’re bigger than you so we deserve to be able to use that name.

    • #21703
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Even as a traditional ‘Sonyist’, I’m becoming more annoyed at them by the day. Apparently when the PS2 and Xbox came out specifications didn’t matter, it would all be about the content. Now that Sony have the upper hand with the specs, they suddenly make it seem as if it’s the only important factor in the next-gen war. Now this…

      Aren’t AMD developing the hardware for Xbox 360? I can really see them digging their heels in over the trademark issue to delay its release.

    • #21705
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Aren’t AMD developing the hardware for Xbox 360? I can really see them digging their heels in over the trademark issue to delay its release.[/quote:dbae80f486]

      nah, its going to be a chip designed by IBM similar to their power pc chip

    • #22220
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      GamesIndustry.biz has obtained a copy of the legal document put together by Sony’s lawyers, which refers to the trade marks ‘PS’, ‘PLAYSTATION’ and the controller symbols.

      The document alleges that: “The defendant has infringed each of the claimant’s said trade marks by using, without the consent of the claimants, in the course of trade in the United Kingdom, signs identical to the said trade marks.”

      “By reason of the aforesaid, the claimants have suffered loss and damage.”[/quote:39132a002b]

      Can someone explain how Sony have suffered loss and damage by the sale of PSPs in the UK, apart from looking stupid about not being able to sell it here themselves??

    • #22224
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Can someone explain how Sony have suffered loss and damage by the sale of PSPs in the UK, apart from looking stupid about not being able to sell it here themselves??[/quote:9674283ce8]

      i reckon sony dont want the import sales because they wont have as big a launch then without them. The fantics who would have bought on day 1 have now all got them abroad so they wont be queuing for 12 hours to snag a new shiny european psp. so opening sales wont be record sales.

    • #22231
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      And yet, they are currently making a profit where they wouldn’t be without the imports. Being unable to get psp’s in europe until september makes them look incompetent and surely even more damaging? Or am I missing something.
      Yes, they’re not going to have a huge launch so profits for that yearly quarter will be down and yet, they’re not losing anything, its just spread across quarters until launch.

    • #22232
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      And yet, they are currently making a profit where they wouldn’t be without the imports. Being unable to get psp’s in europe until september makes them look incompetent and surely even more damaging? Or am I missing something.
      Yes, they’re not going to have a huge launch so profits for that yearly quarter will be down and yet, they’re not losing anything, its just spread across quarters until launch.[/quote:46788cc4f3]

      i suspect they could supply europe if they wanted to. but they delayed because its in the last quarter of the year the good games which will sell the handheld come out. gta etc..

    • #22235
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      + don’t forget they charge the uk alot higher than the US and Japan, thats where they are losing money

    • #22271
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      And yet, they are currently making a profit where they wouldn’t be without the imports. Being unable to get psp’s in europe until september makes them look incompetent and surely even more damaging?
      [/quote:a18756d07f]
      Yes but the masses dont care about Sony looking incompetent cos they have brains this size -> .

      Really anyone queueing up for this kind of stuff really needs their head examined. “OMG I’LL HAVE TO WAIT AN EXTRA DAY OR TWO TO PLAY A PARTICULAR GAME OR CONSOLE…THE HORROR!!!!!!!!11111oneoneone”

      ***DISCLAIMER***
      Please note, that ALL comments herein are solely the ‘opinion’ and/or subjective viewpoint of the writer, and therefore should not be misconstrued, or in any way interpreted as derogatory, be-littling or condescending towards other upstanding, respected members of the GameDevelopers.ie Forums :)

    • #22595
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Under European Statutes (and Statutes of most European Members) Sony has a right to decide when/where they first market a product. So if an importer does it for them without their consent, that is an actionable cause.

      And it looks like Sony won round 1 of the case

      The injunction (and case) is based on trademark infringement: have a quick look at recent case law throughout the EU about this particular facet of law, and you’ll notice that an increasing proportion of such decisions favour the TM owner and that the Court orders do stick, particularly where unauthorized importing is concerned (particularly again where this affects the “first to market in EU” right of the TM owner).

      Methinks this is the start of the choke on grey imports for all things videogames (new ones, that is… we still have pre-PS1 stuff to fall back on… unless this gives ideas to the current owners of the Colecovision and Intellivision TMs :lol: ), and we’ll only get to see the full-scale of this eventual decision (if it still favours Sony and the Indies don’t appeal) when PS3 / Revolution / XB360 hit these EU shores

    • #22596
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Sony won round one, but the judge wasn’t happy with them for not accepting EBL’s very reasonable offer.

    • #22612
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Well… that didn’t prevent him granting the injunction. On the (Indie’s) rosy side, it might lessen the eventual amount of damages (if Sony wins).

      The SONY line about replacement units only being made available from 01 Sep for past import buyers with a problem and returning them now made me laugh quite a bit – talk about p*ssing on the customer’s shoes!!! :lol:

    • #22814
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=9951
      Sony trying to stop another importer but the judge isn’t convinced this time and has gone off to fully look at the details as Nuplayer had offered to remove all trademarks from the website therefore not infringing trademark law as you never see the trademark until you actually receive the product.

    • #23298
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Well the case is over. Sony won a High Court injunction to prevent online store Nuplayer selling imported Japanese PSP consoles BUT the retailer has hit back by taking pre-orders for European PSPs at a reduced price. :lol:

      Something interesting though…

      “If Sony offered to make me an official distributor now, I would categorically say no, because I would have to sell at the RRP and would only receive a small allocation.”[/quote:33b1542bca]
      One would assume official distrubutors would get MORE stock than official ones. I’m not surprised at the RRP limitation though…

      Lik-Sang seem to be next, they recently announced that they have plans to ship PSP and Nintendo DS consoles free of charge to European consumers purchasing a game at the same time. However Sony hit back almost immediately…

      “We have contacted Lik-Sang regarding imports as other infringers. We are actively considering legal remedies available to us and are approaching all known importers in the same way.” [/quote:33b1542bca]

      Basically its Sony saying “Your not playing our consoles till we say you can”… :roll:

    • #23307
      Anonymous
      Inactive
    • #23308
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      i was going to post about this but could not find this topic (i thought it was in general) a search would be handy[/quote:38971400c7]
      Heh, the same two things that went through my head at 10:16 :D

    • #23327
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      An RRP is just that “recommended”. It would be illegal (under competition law) for Sony to require people to sell their games at a certain price so the distributor was wrong in say that.

    • #23331
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Or maybe he just shouldn’t have said it? :wink:

    • #23334
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Or maybe he just shouldn’t have said it? :roll:[/quote:5132cca276]

      Fair enough.

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