In a blatant attempt to further manipulate the market, Sony are now trying to impound imported PSPs purchased abroad and shipped into the UK. I’ve argued a lot that the whole region encoding of DVD’s and Console game disks is scandalous (why should restricted from buying identical DVD’s and PSP games in a different part of the world, so that a company can make more out of me then it does from another customer is a different country?)
The story first appeared in this morning’s press (summed up by VNUNet), with Sony now launching a “damage-limitation exercise” by claiming otherwise.
But one can only assume that they have shifted to a fall-back position simply because such impoundment wouldn’t be legally justified.
They are still, however, going after the importer shops, using copyright and trademark laws: (from Guardian):
Sony is seeking an injunction against those importers who have not stopped selling PSPs, and next Monday will be hoping for a decision in the high court.
Taking on a corporate behemoth such as Sony is a costly operation.”As a small family-run business, I can’t afford the expensive lawyers that Sony has,” says Morelle, who will be representing himself.
Sony launched the PSP in both North America and Japan some time ago, leaving Europe the only significant games market without the neat little console. Sony has cited the reason for the delayed launch was to “ensure adequate quantities of the product are available”.
However it is widely accepted that such practices are really an opportunity to artificially stimulate the market by increasing the desirability of the console and thus demand a higher ticket price then the Japanese and North American markets.
[more]