A three member bench chaired by Hanipah Farikullah said this was not a plain and obvious case to strike out as the law on limitation period concerning online publication was in a flux.

“This case needs mature consideration,” said Hanipah who sat with Lee Swee Seng and Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim.

The ruling to set aside the striking out of the suit by the High Court was delivered via online hearing upon agreement by the appellant and respondents. The bench also ordered the suit to be heard by another judge.

Fitters Diversified Bhd, Fitters Marketing Sdn Bhd and Pyro-Tech Systems Sdn Bhd filed the suit in November 2018 against the ministry as its enforcement unit had issued a statement that they were in possession of counterfeit goods.

Doretti Resources Sdn Bhd had lodged a complaint with the ministry that Fitters Marketing and Pyro-Tech Systems had violated the intellectual properties law for allegedly producing door lockset products.

Doretti also filed a suit for copyright infringement in 2015 but that was dismissed in 2017.

Fitters Diversified and its two subsidiaries then filed a defamation suit as the ministry published a statement, via a press statement and through Twitter, in June 2015 that it had seized counterfeit goods worth RM2.46 million that rightfully belonged to Doretti.

The Attorney-General’s Chambers, which appeared for the ministry and other defendants, applied to strike out the claim on the grounds of time bar, citing the three year limitation period to initiate proceedings against the government. They counted publication to begin on the date it was made.

Lawyer Damian Kiethan argued that for online publications, for as long as the publication was available online like on a website or on Twitter and was not removed, it was considered a fresh publication. However, the High Court disagreed and annulled the suit.

Lawyer Ong Yu Jian, who appeared with Damian, told FMT that the Court of Appeal ruling would enable them to argue an interesting point of law during the trial.

“This case is very relevant in today’s world where defamation happens rampantly in social media and online.

“A clear determination by the courts on the issue of limitation will certainly be helpful for litigants deciding when or how long they have to settle their grudge or score,” Ong said.