Breaking Down Borders
Lik Sang was an online gaming retailer established in 1998 in Hong Kong. It became well known for its sales of modchips for video game consoles that enabled the normally locked consoles to play import and ‘homebrew’ games, but it also allowed the controversial use of pirated video games.
The modchips were not all physical chips; they included devices such as flash cartridges that allow Game Boy users to upload ROMs and homebrew applications onto the device and play them as if it was a regular gaming cartridge. Lik Sang would also supply import games, toys, figurines, anime-related merchandise, and adapters and controllers for various gaming platforms.
Lik Sang was widely known in console gaming circles. Some even form a verb with the name, as in “I could ‘Lik Sang’ the controller if I had the money”, and cult gaming site Penny Arcade often spoke about Lik Sang and featured them in their webcomics. Famed iPhone and PlayStation jail-breaker Geohot makes mention of Lik Sang in a rap, stating “I shed a tear every time I think of Lik Sang”.
A Fresh Start
In 2002, the company was sued by major video game console manufacturers, such as Sony Computer Entertainment, Nintendo and Microsoft Corporation, alleging contributory copyright infringement as the modchips and other related devices enabled the use of unauthorised video game titles on those consoles. The High Court of Hong Kong granted injunctions preventing Lik Sang from selling these devices.
After these suits, Lik Sang began expanding its area of expertise by reinventing itself under the guidance of a new owner, as a vendor of uncommon but legitimate accessories, such as consumer electronics, games, merchandise, and t-shirts. Lik Sang was a strong supporter of the Dreamcast community. In 2003 they partnered with Dreamcast-Scene (DCS) and GOAT Store to promote independently developed games; they had an exclusive deal with GOAT Store that made them the sole distributor of all independently released games until their demise in 2006. With GOAT Store Publishing, they distributed four exclusive games, offering free shipping around the world.
Rattling Cages
In August 2005, the company was once again in legal trouble, this time from Sony. Lik Sang had imported PlayStation Portable devices from areas where they were available, and re-exported them to UK customers before the official UK release date which Sony alleged was a violation of trademark rights. Lik Sang continued shipping PSPs despite warnings, claiming Hong Kong’s trademark law follows the principle of international exhaustion of trademark rights and therefore allows an item to be traded freely once it appears in a market anywhere in the world.
On October 18th, 2006, the High Court in London’s Patents Court ruled that the shipments were indeed in breach of Sony’s rights. The following day, Lik Sang posted a message on their website claiming they had been forced out of business due to Sony’s legal action. Sony responded in a statement saying that Lik Sang had not contested the case, thus incurring no legal fees, and had not paid any damages or costs to Sony.
Lik Sang replied once more that their legal representatives spent over a year to contest the UK’s court jurisdiction and tried to defend against Sony’s allegations of parallel importation and copyright infringement, and that Sony launched duplicate actions in different countries. According to Lik Sang’s final statements, Sony’s claiming of high legal expenses was a contributing factor in Lik Sang’s forced closure.
From October 24th, 2006, Lik Sang’s website has been offline. The Lik Sang forums have also been closed down. Between 2006 and 2014, the domain carried only a letter to former customers in regards to the ruling, and the circumstances surrounding it. Since 2014, the domain simply redirects to the relevant Wikipedia article.
