JUDGMENT

Steve Shim J:

[1] In this case, the plaintiff had filed a writ of summons against the defendants for infringement of the the the Certificate relating to composition claims for movable parts ('the Certificate') such as rollers used in the dipped latex products industry, and which rollers are made from a composition of 5% to 60% fibreglass mixed with 95% to 40% polymer extracted from nylon, PC, PET, PPO, PAT and ABS and other polymers. It has been alleged that the defendants had infringed and are continuing to infringe the plaintiff's rights in the said Certificate by making, manufacturing, offering for sale, selling, distributing or using movable parts such as the rollers for use in the dipped latex products industry. The facts as disclosed in evidence can be briefly stated herein. Prior to 1993, manufacturers in the rubber gloves industry had used metal rollers as one of the movable parts in producing or manufacturing rubber gloves. In 1992, Lai Chee Fong (PW2) who was involved in the marketing of these rollers, conducted research and experiments on these metal rollers which were found to be increasingly inconvenient and problematic. He was able to develop and produce rollers made from a composition of nylon (polymer) and fibreglass which could resist intense heat of between 120C to 200C. In laying claim to this invention, he then filed an application for a the the Certificate on 17 September 1993 which was granted on 15 May 1996. This Certificate covers all claims in relation to movable parts which include nylon rollers to be used in the dipped latex products industry in Malaysia. Lai Chee Fong (PW2), made the application for the Certificate in the name of his company Kendek Industry Sdn Bhd ('the plaintiff company'). Thereafter the plaintiff company began marketing the nylon rollers through a sister company called Hong Lian Enterprise which was run and operated by PW2, although it was registered in the name of his wife. These nylon rollers were manufactured by two companies called KC Engineering and Koaki Enterprise with the warrant and approval of the plaintiff company. It would appear that Hong Lian Enterprise had since mid-1993 been supplying these nylon rollers to Sri Tegas Enterprise who thereafter sold them to manufacturers of rubber glove industries such as NS Uniglove, Felda etc. ... However, sometime in 1996, Sri Tegas apparently stopped ordering the nylon rollers from the plaintiff company or Hong Lian Enterprise and it somehow came to the knowledge of PW2 that Sri Tegas was perhaps selling and/or manufacturing nylon rollers in infringement of the plaintiffs the the Certificate. PW2 decided to investigate. He went to NS Uniglove, one of the customers of Sri Tegas and there he was handed two samples of nylon rollers by Prangers (PW3), the maintenance manager of that company. The two samples bore the logo of Sri Tegas. Lai Chee Fong also directed his salesman Goh Sen Kiat, PWI to check on a company called Yoong Kuang Plastic Industry ('Yoong Kuang'), owned by the third defendant. On arrival at the office of the third defendant, Goh Sen Kiat, PW1 was able to see a number of nylon rollers on the table and he noticed they bore the logo of Sri Tegas. He did not take possession of the rollers in question. However, PW2, on being handed the two samples of nylon rollers, decided to send one of them (which has been produced and marked as exh P2) to the Plastic Technology Centre, Standards and Industrial Research Institute of Malaysia (SIRIM) for analysis on its composition. He sent the same to the Singapore Productivity and Standards Board (PSB) for further analysis. He received the reports from both SIRIM and PSB. Of these two reports. he has produced the one from SIRIM but not the report from PSB apparently because he was unable to get the expert from PSB to attend court. The SIRIM report has been produced by Dr Ahmad Fuad (PW5), the expert who conducted the analysis and who made the said report. This report exh P12