KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 23 — The High Court here today allowed Swatch group to continue its lawsuit against the government in connection with the Home Ministry’s (KDN) seizure of 172 watches from its Pride collection.
The presiding judge Datuk Amarjit Singh said that Swatch had succeeded in its application for leave for judicial review, following the Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) not having any objections for the proceeding.
Case management was set on September 6.
As this is a lawsuit filed through a judicial review application, the court’s leave or nod for the lawsuit to proceed was required. The High Court’s granting of leave means that the judge will continue to hear the lawsuit.
The Swiss watchmaker named the four respondents as the KDN chief secretary, KDN’s enforcement division’s secretary, the home minister and the Malaysian government
In today’s court proceedings, Swatch was represented today by lawyers Nizam Bashir and Kee Hui Yee, while senior federal counsel Farah Shuhada Ramli represented the government.
Earlier this month, KDN banned all elements of "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Plus (LGBTQ+)” on Swatch’s timepieces and accessories, nearly three months after it seized 172 items in raids of the company’s stores in Malaysia.
In a statement, KDN announced that it had gazetted a ban on "any publication related to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and + Plus (LGBTQ+) in any form appearing on Swatch watches of any collection including the boxes, wrappers, accessories or any other related things”.
In this lawsuit, Swatch is seeking: an order to quash the Home Ministry’s seizure notices in May for the 172 watches worth RM64,795, a court order for all the seized watches to be returned within five days of the order, and a court order for compensation (including in the form of aggravated and exemplary damages).
It also filed amendments in July to its court papers for the lawsuit to ask for two additional court orders, namely a declaration that Section 16(2) of the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA) 1984 only authorises the Home Ministry's officers to search Swatch's stores in "exigent circumstances” or urgent circumstances, and an order to quash the decisions and actions of the Home Ministry officers on the searches of Swatch stores and seizures of the watches.
The Swatch Group (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd had on June 24 filed the lawsuit via a judicial review application at the High Court in Kuala Lumpur.
Based on court documents sighted by Malay Mail, Swatch Group had filed the lawsuit as it claimed that the Home Ministry’s officers had acted illegally, irrationally, with procedural impropriety and that their actions were allegedly disproportionate and for an improper purpose.
According to Swatch Group, it had been selling its watches since 1995 in Malaysia via its stores which mostly employ Malaysians and through authorised resellers.
