Read the full judgment text of CAMP 11/2019 on BabelCite. This Court of Appeal judgment was delivered on 2 October 2019 before Chu JA and Au JA.
Civil procedure – joinder of parties – Order 15 rule 6(2)(b) of the Rules of the High Court (Cap 4A) – application to join 2nd defendant (wife of 3rd defendant) and 3rd defendant (director, shareholder and managing director of 1st defendant) to trademark infringement and passing off action – plaintiff operates telecommunication business under mark "Accessyou" and owns accessyou.com – 1st defendant registered accessyou.co (automatically linked to ablesms.com) and the trademark "ABLESMS" – test for joinder – whether bona fide claim and proper question to be tried – court will not adjudicate disputed facts at joinder stage – whether judge adopted correct test – reading judgment in context, judge did not reverse burden of proof – judge's exercise of discretion – ablesms.com domain name not irrelevant to passing off claim because accessyou.co was automatically linked to ablesms.com – Pang Kwok Lam v Schneider Electric Asia Pacific Ltd followed – Yeung Pui Ying Anna v Day & Chan considered – intended appeal enjoys no reasonable prospect of success – no matter in interests of justice requires hearing – application refused – summons dismissed – costs follow event – plaintiff's costs summarily assessed at HK$65,000 with deductions for preparation of statement of costs, D2 and D3 (no call-over hearing) and reduced time on client/counsel attendance – Order 59 rule 2A(8) order made that no party may request oral reconsideration inter partes.
Legal issues: Correct test for an Order 15 rule 6(2)(b) joinder application · Interference with the judge's exercise of discretion on joinder
Outcome: The 2nd defendant's renewed application for leave to appeal is refused and the summons is dismissed.
Cited by 17 cases · Cites 5 cases