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10-12-2015, 09:00 AM
An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:
High Court grants appeal in MINDEF patent case
In a judgement released on Wednesday (Dec 9), the Court decided that the Protection from Harassment Act does not apply to the Singapore Government, because it is not considered a "person".
SINGAPORE: The High Court on Wednesday (Dec 9) overruled an earlier decision by a district judge that barred the publication of statements against MINDEF on social-political website The Online Citizen (TOC).
Judicial Commissioner See Kee Oon said the Singapore Government “may not avail itself of the remedy under (Section 15 of the Protection from Harassment Act)”, because the court cannot consider the Government a “person”.
That particular section of the law is meant to protect people from having false statements of fact being made against them.
JC See said the scope of Section 15 “is not so wide as to encompass all false statements but is confined to false statements that are capable of affecting their intended subject emotionally or psychologically”. This “presupposes that the subject of the false statement is a human being, endowed with (the) capacity to feel the impact of such falsehood”, JC See stated.
The judgement follows an appeal from Dr Ting Choon Meng and five others from The Online Citizen, who are engaged in a long-running civil suit against the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF).
MINDEF had sued the parties over allegedly false statements concerning a patent dispute between itself and Dr Ting’s company MobileStats Technologies. Dr Ting had alleged that MINDEF had copied his patented concept for a “mobile first aid post”, a vehicle designed to deliver medical services quickly and simply in disaster or combat situations or other emergencies, and he sued the Defence Ministry in 2011.
But Dr Ting decided not to proceed further with the suit and in 2014, his patent was held to be invalid and ordered to be revoked by the court.
MINDEF later said Dr Ting had made false statements against it in an interview with TOC. Dr Ting had told TOC that MINDEF had “knowingly infringed MobileStats’s patent with the intention of applying subsequently to revoke that patent”, and that the ministry had “deliberately delayed the proceedings in the High Court” in order to prolong the process and weaken Dr Ting’s resolve.
MINDEF brought Dr Ting and five members of TOC to court over the statements, and the judge had ruled in the ministry’s favour, saying the comments were “not to be published unless accompanied by a notification bringing attention to the falsehoods and the true facts”.
Dr Ting and TOC appealed this finding on the grounds that the Government, including MINDEF, should not come under the purview of Section 15 of the Protection from Harassment Act.
Although JC See agreed that “only human beings may avail themselves of the remedy” under Section 15 of the Act, he said “this does not necessarily preclude recourse to (Section 15) whenever false statements are directed against entities other than human beings”.
This means that an allegation against the human beings who manage a corporate body can seek redress under Section 15. However, in the present case, relief under the section was not sought by any human officer within the Government, but by the Government itself, JC See noted.
MINDEF said in a statement that it is carefully studying the written Grounds of Decision before deciding on the next course of action, along with the Attorney-General's Chambers
Click here to view the whole thread at www.sammyboy.com (http://www.sammyboy.com/showthread.php?221425-Its-going-to-snow-in-S-pore-TOC-actually-won-a-lawsuit-against-the-PAP&goto=newpost).
High Court grants appeal in MINDEF patent case
In a judgement released on Wednesday (Dec 9), the Court decided that the Protection from Harassment Act does not apply to the Singapore Government, because it is not considered a "person".
SINGAPORE: The High Court on Wednesday (Dec 9) overruled an earlier decision by a district judge that barred the publication of statements against MINDEF on social-political website The Online Citizen (TOC).
Judicial Commissioner See Kee Oon said the Singapore Government “may not avail itself of the remedy under (Section 15 of the Protection from Harassment Act)”, because the court cannot consider the Government a “person”.
That particular section of the law is meant to protect people from having false statements of fact being made against them.
JC See said the scope of Section 15 “is not so wide as to encompass all false statements but is confined to false statements that are capable of affecting their intended subject emotionally or psychologically”. This “presupposes that the subject of the false statement is a human being, endowed with (the) capacity to feel the impact of such falsehood”, JC See stated.
The judgement follows an appeal from Dr Ting Choon Meng and five others from The Online Citizen, who are engaged in a long-running civil suit against the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF).
MINDEF had sued the parties over allegedly false statements concerning a patent dispute between itself and Dr Ting’s company MobileStats Technologies. Dr Ting had alleged that MINDEF had copied his patented concept for a “mobile first aid post”, a vehicle designed to deliver medical services quickly and simply in disaster or combat situations or other emergencies, and he sued the Defence Ministry in 2011.
But Dr Ting decided not to proceed further with the suit and in 2014, his patent was held to be invalid and ordered to be revoked by the court.
MINDEF later said Dr Ting had made false statements against it in an interview with TOC. Dr Ting had told TOC that MINDEF had “knowingly infringed MobileStats’s patent with the intention of applying subsequently to revoke that patent”, and that the ministry had “deliberately delayed the proceedings in the High Court” in order to prolong the process and weaken Dr Ting’s resolve.
MINDEF brought Dr Ting and five members of TOC to court over the statements, and the judge had ruled in the ministry’s favour, saying the comments were “not to be published unless accompanied by a notification bringing attention to the falsehoods and the true facts”.
Dr Ting and TOC appealed this finding on the grounds that the Government, including MINDEF, should not come under the purview of Section 15 of the Protection from Harassment Act.
Although JC See agreed that “only human beings may avail themselves of the remedy” under Section 15 of the Act, he said “this does not necessarily preclude recourse to (Section 15) whenever false statements are directed against entities other than human beings”.
This means that an allegation against the human beings who manage a corporate body can seek redress under Section 15. However, in the present case, relief under the section was not sought by any human officer within the Government, but by the Government itself, JC See noted.
MINDEF said in a statement that it is carefully studying the written Grounds of Decision before deciding on the next course of action, along with the Attorney-General's Chambers
Click here to view the whole thread at www.sammyboy.com (http://www.sammyboy.com/showthread.php?221425-Its-going-to-snow-in-S-pore-TOC-actually-won-a-lawsuit-against-the-PAP&goto=newpost).