Lik-Sang more recently came under fire from Sony for infringement of "trademarks, copyrights, and registered design rights" through the export of Japanese PlayStation Portable consoles to European customers. London's High Court ruled in favor of Sony. According to Lik-Sang, this latest decision (not to mention the litigation costs) finally convinced the retailer to cease operations as it did not appreciate the precedent Sony's court victory would set for any future cases it would face.

The retailer has issued the following statement on its website with regards to outstanding orders and shipments:

As of today, Lik-Sang.com will not be in the position to accept any new orders and will cancel and refund all existing orders that have already been placed. Furthermore, Lik-Sang is working closely with banks and PayPal to refund any store credits held by the company, and the customer support department is taking care of any open transactions such as pending RMAs or repairs and shipping related matters. The staff of Lik-Sang will make sure that nobody will get hurt in the crossfire of this ordeal.

Lik-Sang was quick to attack Sony for putting the final nail in its coffin, citing that even SCE Europe's management had been its customers in the past. To be sure, the decision to close shop was entirely Lik-Sang's, as Sony itself made no explicit order to do so.  It's still unfortunate news for gamers who does business with Lik-Sang on a regular basis.

Update: As suggested earlier, Sony denies it played any part in the closure of Lik-Sang. As the retailer failed to represent itself in court, the judge ruled in favor of Sony so the company believes this case alone cannot be used as an excuse:

"Lik-Sang did not contest this case (i.e. they did not turn up and therefore incurred no legal costs). We have been awarded substantial costs against Lik-Sang which have not been paid," the statement claims.

"We would therefore strongly deny that our actions have had anything to do with this website closing (we assume the legal entity is still trading), and would suggest that this release is sour grapes on behalf of Lik-Sang which is aimed to belittle Sony Computer Entertainment and the British judicial system that found against them."