Foul!

As published in Malay Mail today.  Court rules blog posting not defamatory THE High Court has struck out a defamation suit filed by a lawyer against a journalist on grounds the case was an abuse of the judicial process. The ruling was made by judge Datuk Yeoh Wee Siam in chambers yesterday. The suit was filed by Datuk Mohamad Bustaman Abdullah against Malay Mail executive editor Haresh Deol on August 15, 2012, over an article posted on the latter’s blog Foul! ( www.hareshdeol.blogspot.com ). Haresh had in the posting “Judge Walks Out” on June 27, 2012, republished a Malay Mail article “Judge walks out as question turns personal”, a hyperlink to an article “Ethics vital for lawyers” published in The Star Online on June 27 and a YouTube video clip titled “Hooligan lawyer assaults client”. Mohamad Bustaman, had claimed the Malay Mail article, which was a court hearing between National Sports Council (NSC) and Mesuma Sports Sdn Bhd, was defamatory to him. He had a...

As reported by Sports247 THE court has ruled in favour of National Sport Council (NSC) in their dispute with Mesuma Sports Sdn Bhd over the national jersey tiger stripes. It is believed that the Intellectual Property High Court had concluded yesterday that the three tiger stripes, of which the apparel makers had registered for 10 years – from July 9, 2009 till July 9, 2019 – do not belong exclusively to Mesuma. However, details of the judgment have yet to be released but sources have mentioned that the court has ordered the cancellation of Mesuma’s design registration. The matter came to attention when NSC entered into an agreement with Telekom Malaysia (TM) to launch the Team Malaysia Panthera jersey on April 28 last year. TM had also filed eight applications to register designs consisting of its corporate logo and incorporating the tiger stripes on the words “TEAM MALAYSIA”. NSC had claimed that it registered the design under the Industrial Designs Act through CR Sports in ...

Judge Datuk Hanipah Farukillah then asked (National Sports Council lawyer) Mohamed Bustaman Abdullah to move on with other questions, but he persisted with it. Out of the blue, Hanipah, who looked angry, walked out of the court room without uttering a word. When the proceedings resumed five minutes later, Mohamed Bustaman apologised to both Hanipah and Sieh. "Please use proper phrases when putting questions to the witness and try not to indicate that the government is the owner of the design ," Hanipah said. Read the full report in today's The Malay Mail here . Oh, there is an article here suggesting how vital ethics are for lawyers as seen here . The write up was prompted by the video below. HD says: Not cool, not cool at all...

I was called in as a witness for the on-going National Sports Council - Mesuma trial at the KL High Court in Jalan Duta earlier this morning. Also called in as witnesses for the morning session were Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) vice president cum National Sports Council board member Low Beng Choo, OCM honorary secretary Sieh Kok Chi and National Sports Institute chief executive officer Dr Ramlan Aziz. I just couldn't stop smiling... HD says : I'm still smiling....

"We thought no company would take what rightfully belonged to the government. We didn't expect this to happen." Those were the words of Sports Ministry secretary-general Mohid Mohamed during the trial over the ownership of the design, between NSC and Mesuma Sports Sdn Bhd, at the Intellectual Property High Court, on Thursday. Read the full story 'NSC claims ignorance over jersey ownership' published in The Malay Mail here . And it looks like the trial got a little too 'cold' for Mohid - as seen here . For those unaware of the issue, refer here , here and here . L-R: Mohid and NSC lawyer Mohamad Bustaman Abdullah - pic by Razak Ghazali, The Malay Mail.  HD says: Oh well...

Received a statement from Mesuma Sports Sdn Bhd that read: We dispute that they are the owners of the trademark. We are the registered owners and we have the rights to use the mark as registered. We are contesting their claim. We are also challenging their rights to the industrial designs they are talking about. This is with regards to the tiger stripes design seen on the national jersey. Both Mesuma Sports and the National Sports Council (NSC) claim ownership over the design. Read ' Bring it on ' in today's Mailsport.

The National Sports Council (NSC) hogs the limelight today. NSC served a writ of summons to sports apparel company Mesuma Sports Sdn Bhd over the ownership of the national jersey tiger stripe design, as reported in today's Mailsport . Deputy Sports Minister Gan Ping Sieu said the NSC Act 1971 will undergo several amendments to ensure it remains relevant to the national sports scene, as seen here . Pin Sieu said this during the launch of the YBs Can Jump 3-on-3 basketball tournament at the Maba Stadium yesterday ( pic ). Last but surely not least, Foul! would like to extend our condolences to the family of NSC official Harun Osman who passed away after suffering a heart attack in Palembang. Pic of full Mesuma apparel for the national contingent at the 26th Sea Games in Indonesia. HD says: RIP Harun.

As I was munching on some muruku while watching Enthiran on RTM2, I received not one but a handful of phone calls regarding the SEA Games flag handing ceremony next week. After exchanging Diwali greetings, I was told Mesuma Sdn Bhd will not be invited to hand out mementos to the VIPs during the ceremony. The ceremony is hosted by the National Sports Council (NSC). FYI, the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) -the main body when it comes to major multi-event Games including the SEA Games - used to host such events. We all know about the soured relationship between Mesuma and NSC. To refresh one's memory, read here . Note that Mesuma remains as the official attire for OCM. All athletes - especially the national bowlers - will don Mesuma's attire during the SEA Games. Yet they aren't invited? But I guess you don't invite the baker of your cake to your birthday party eh? The picture above shows Mesuma's Maya Heng - flanked by the respective officials donning Mesuma atti...