TIGER PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT LTD v ENCORE FILMS PTE LTD

Case Significance

Tiger Pictures Entertainment Ltd v Encore Films Pte Ltd [2024] SGHC 39 was decided by Dedar Singh Gill J in the General Division of the High Court on 9 February 2024, in Originating Claim No 466 of 2022. The judgment records that OC 466 was the first case to be heard substantively under Part 2 of the Supreme Court of Judicature (Intellectual Property) Rules 2022. The case concerned copyright infringement. The claimant, Tiger Pictures Entertainment Ltd, is a company incorporated in the People's Republic of China that distributes and sells films worldwide; its President is Mr Yang Gang (also known as Mr Owen Young), and it has a related Hong Kong entity of the same name. The defendant, Encore Films Pte Ltd, is a Singapore-incorporated company distributing films in Singapore and other Southeast Asian countries.

The defendant did not dispute that it carried out the acts complained of, but submitted that there was a distribution agreement between the parties. The judgment records the court's finding that no agreement was reached between the parties. The catchwords cover Contract (Formation) and Intellectual Property (Copyright, Infringement), and the judgment references the Copyright Act, the Evidence Act and the Patents Act. The claimant was represented by Allen & Gledhill LLP (Justin Tay and Toh Jia Yi); the defendant by Lee & Lee (Tan Tee Jim, Lee Junting Basil and Yang Zhuo Yan).