Issue 1 - April 2020
Our first issue of EncyCLOpedia for 2020 covers a spectrum of legal developments and greater insight on existing laws, as well as provides access to information that may be of interest to businesses and industries affected by Covid-19.
The enactment of the Trademarks Act 2019 has impacted positively on Malaysia's long overdue accession to the Madrid Protocol and potentially allows businesses to explore how trademarking can be used to enhance business visibility and deals with the issue of protection of trademarks as well. This issue of EncyCLOpedia also provides readers which quick tips about the enforcement of Anti-Corruption laws in Malaysia and succinctly explains the details of what the law entails.
An interesting addition to recent laws has been the incorporation of the new section 6A to the Limitation Act 1953 which now allows for limitation periods to be extended in cases founded on negligence not involving personal injuries, where the damage is not discoverable at the time the cause of action accrues. This may potentially result in additions to the variety of civil claims that will be filed and the details are worth considering in the article titled "Late Discovery of Latent Damage? Limitation Period has been Relaxed by New Section 6A of Limitation Act 1953".
With everything that is happening due to Covid-19, the traditional "force majeure" clauses is contracts have now taken on greater emphasis with many businesses reviewing what used to be "standard" force majeure clauses and rewriting these to include a wider range of possible unexpected events, and businesses that have not incorporated such clauses into their agreements scramble to include "force majeure" clauses due to the uncertainties that lie ahead. We believe that this is a crucial consideration for all businesses at this time, and encourage you to read this article in detail.
Last but certainly not least, this publication also explains the differences between asset purchase and share purchase when acquiring a business with emphasis on the pros and cons of these different acquisition strategies. This will certainly be useful for readers who are thinking of buying or selling businesses in the near future.
We also take the opportunity, in this issue of EncyCLOpedia, to celebrate and share with you, our achievements as a legal firm.
January-June 2019
Our third edition of encyCLOpedia covers a spectrum of legal developments and greater insight on existing laws.
In light of Grab's acquisition of Uber's business across the Southeast Asia region, Competition Commissions across the region took action to limit the potential uncompetitive impact of the acquisition. In Malaysia however, Malaysia Competition Commission's ("MyCC’s") limited powers in the realm of merger controls has resulted in a lack of concrete action against Grab. MyCC has nevertheless alluded to the introduction of an economy-wide merger control regime under the Competition Act since then, and this article seeks to discuss the features of a merger control regime.
Next up, we discuss on the Federal Court's findings in the recent land scam case of Rajamani. The apex court in the ground-breaking decision held that a replacement title in continuation that was issued in the name of the original owner of the land is not void ab initio (from the beginning) notwithstanding that the land registry had been duped into issuing it – and such replacement title in continuation remains valid and capable of passing the title to the land to a subsequent purchaser in good faith and for valuable consideration. The next article sets out the main tenets for homebuyers and property investors in Malaysia to take note of. Specifically, we share an overview of the types of land ownership, foreign investment restrictions in real property and the applicable real property taxes in Malaysia.
On combating fake news, the Malaysian Parliament enacted the rather controversial Anti-Fake News Act 2018 ("AFNA") just ahead of the 2018 general elections. The hasty timing and broad nature of the AFNA generated public outcry, and the public's dissatisfactions are not unfounded. As it stands, it is unclear whether editorial errors, political satire or critical social commentary would be considered as fake news. Against this backdrop, Anissa, our partner specialising in Media and Entertainment, shares a critical analysis of the legislative development of the AFNA, the risks of fake news to organisations, and wraps up with thought-provoking ramifications of fake news and the need to create an effective risk management strategy.
To conclude this issue, we provide a 101 on the key rights and benefits of employees protected under the Employment Act 1955. This is relevant for employers when formulating business budgets as the cost of hiring an employee frequently costs more than the basic salary paid out each month!
July-December 2018
We are pleased to present our second issue of encyCLOpedia with more insightful articles on some of the latest developments in the legal world.
We cover the biggest franchise dispute in Malaysia – the Chatime-Tealive dispute. This saga came to an end recently as the parties reached an out-of-court settlement. Nonetheless, the decision by the Court of Appeal to reverse the decision of the High Court thus allowing La Kaffa's application for an interim prohibitory injunction is noteworthy and the article highlights the impact of the Court of Appeal's decision on the principle of injunctive relief.
On the trade scene, Malaysia is one of the countries currently negotiating a mega regional trade agreement known as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership ("RCEP"). The RCEP covers various aspects of the economy with the aim of lowering trade barriers and enhancing investments among the RCEP members.
On 19 September 2018, the Securities Commission Malaysia ("SC") announced the liberalisation of its regulatory framework to greater retail access to the RM1.3 trillion Malaysian bond and sukuk market. We discuss the new seasoning framework introduced by the SC.
Further, we explore the judicial trend in Malaysia on the defence of illegality in light of the new approach devised by the UK Supreme Court in the case of Patel v. Mirza [2017] 1 All ER 191.