Sony stops PSP sales in UK

Court injunction

By John Oates • Get more from this author

Posted in IT Channel, 28th June 2005 15:12 GMT

Sony has won an injunction to stop a one-man band reseller from flogging imported Playstation portables.

Sony Computer Entertainment won an interim injunction to stop online retailer ElectricBirdLand from infringing its trademarks and selling PSPs. ElectricBirdLand, run by Dan Morelle, has 28 days to prepare a defence and will be back in court on 18 July, according to the BBC.

Morelle, conducting his own defence, said other firms were selling PSPs without facing action from Sony. He said he had sold £11,000.

He asked the judge if he was allowed to offer his customers replacement machines because failure rates have been as high as ten per cent.

Morelle also complained that documents from Sony were delivered by "men in dark glasses" which upset and intimidated his pregnant wife. More details on GamesIndustry.biz here.

The Reg did try and track Morelle down but according to his blog his partner was expecting their second child on Sunday so we're guessing he's busy today.

The PSP was supposed to be launched in the UK in March but this has now been pushed back to September. The delay makes it worthwhile importing machines from the US to sell to sweaty-handed gamers in the UK who just can't wait til autumn.®