Edwin Paramjothy a/l Michael Muniandy

On the judicial record

A guide to how a High Court manages intellectual-property disputes over trade marks and passing off and the demanding interlocutory procedure — Anton Piller orders, discovery, committal — that accompanies high-value commercial litigation.

Edwin Paramjothy a/l Michael Muniandy sits in the High Court, and this collection is distinctively weighted toward intellectual property and the procedural machinery that surrounds commercial litigation, authored in English. Trade-mark disputes are the core: applications to invalidate a registered trade mark, claims for infringement and passing off, and the assessment of damages for infringement and passing off, including whether a plaintiff is entitled to damages for loss of business profits. Around that core sits a rich body of civil procedure. The court hears applications for discovery of documents and whether the elements for such an order are satisfied, applications to set aside an ex parte Anton Piller injunction, committal proceedings for contempt, applications to strike out portions of pleadings, affidavits and written submissions, applications concerning a notice to produce documents and the court's jurisdiction to set it aside, and applications to amend a writ and statement of claim resisted on the ground of inordinate delay. A contract dispute over whether a business arrangement amounted to a franchise, and whether such an arrangement was void, rounds out the range. The judgments are notable for the care with which they work through the procedural test engaged — the requirements for discovery, the grounds for setting aside an Anton Piller order, the threshold for striking out — before reaching the substantive question. Private individuals are referred to here by role; corporate and institutional parties are named. A recurring theme is the protection of intellectual-property rights through both final relief and the interlocutory orders — search orders, injunctions, discovery — that preserve evidence and hold the ring pending trial. The collection is a clear guide to how a High Court manages intellectual-property disputes and the demanding procedural applications that accompany high-value commercial litigation, and to the discipline with which each interlocutory gateway is tested before relief is granted.