Mohd Eusoff Bin Chin SCJ:

We dismissed this appeal on 13 December 1993 and we now give the grounds for doing so.

The appellant alleged that the respondent had compiled, published, printed, distributed and sold telephone directories in the Chinese language entitled "Malaysian Business Chinese Directory", and that the respondent in doing so had obtained or copied substantially from telephone directories published by the appellant without first obtaining the permission or authority of the appellant. The appellant sought an injunction from the Court to restrain the respondent from printing the Chinese telephone directories and for damages to be assessed. On 21 September 1991 the Court granted an interim injunction pending trial. The respondent's application to set aside the interim injunction was rejected by the Court on 23 December 1991. On 25 June 1993, after a full trial, the High Court dismissed the plaintiff's claim with costs. The appellant appealed to the Supreme Court.

What we are mainly concerned with here is whether the book Exh. P7 entitled "Malaysian Business Chinese Directory" is in fact a telephone directory. Under s. 44 of the Telecommunications Amendment Act