European Launch
The PSP was released in Europe on 1 September, considerably later than releases in other territories. This, according to Sony press releases, was due to high demand for the system in other territories—namely North America and Japan. Like the American launch, the Value Pack will be the only available package type, retailing for £179 or €249. An undisclosed number of users (on a "first come, first served" basis) will receive a free Spider-Man 2 Video UMD after registering their systems on SCEE's Your PSP web portal.
SCEE have been much maligned for the delayed launch in Europe and for issuing legal proceedings against small independent retailers selling imported consoles. SCEE argue that their Intellectual Property rights are being infringed, while some argue that SCEE’s claims are groundless. The PSP has been widely available in Europe prior to the official launch; retailer ElectricBirdLand Limited claims to have shipped several consoles to SCEE's own employees. ElectricBirdLand Limited have been issued with proceedings at the Royal Courts of Justice, SCEE and SCEI are seeking to enjoin them to prevent them from selling imported PSPs. ElectricBirdLand are represented by Managing Director Dan Morelle, they do not have legal representation.
At this time the PSP trademark is owned in the EEA by a small IT company based in Great Britain named OwtaNet Limited. It and several other key trademarks are currently disputed in the European Union, and it is unclear what impact this may or may not have on the launch of the PSP in Europe. Sony's current press releases no longer utilize the 'PSP' acronym. In Europe, the familiar PSP logo is accompanied by a "PlayStation Portable" logotype underneath in in-store marketing and on console (though not game) product boxes and manuals. Once the firmware is updated to v2.00, the PlayStation Portable logotype also appears on the PSP splash screen before a game is loaded.
August 8, 2005, just 3 weeks prior to the EU launch Lik Sang a Hong Kong based exporter of video games etc. announced it was also being sued by Sony in Europe for Parallel importation of the PSP.
In the UK, PSP broke all previous sales records more than doubling the previous record-holder - the Nintendo DS - selling an enormous 185,000 units at launch.
The PlayStation Portable units in Europe are preloaded with 1.52 update but the 2.00 update can be found on the demo disk enabling many more features such as web browsing and backgrounds.
Read more about this topic: Play Station Portable Launch
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