IMPORTANCE OF

INJUNCTION IN
COPYRIGHT
1) To prevent or restrain further infringement of
a copyright by the defendant in a case
• The plaintiff may show damages from previous acts of infringement
before the judge, for example; prohibitory injunction
• However, it is upon court’s discretion
• If there is probability that the defendant’s use unfair and might
interfere with plaintiff’s interests, the court may grant the injunction
Case: Microsoft Corporation v Conquest
Computer Centre Sdn. Bhd. [2014] 6 CLJ 876
• Plaintiff argued that the defendant did not request for consent from
the plaintiff and used plaintiff’s software to pre-install into their
personal computers.
• It was also alleged that the defendant did not provide original and
licensed software in CD-ROMs or discs, end-user license agreements,
manuals, product registration cards and Certificate of Authenticity
when requested by the plaintiff.
• Held: Court ordered a prohibitory injunction to prevent defendant
from using or even selling any product that embodies the works of
plaintiff – plaintiff successfully proved balance of probabilities
2) To prevent infringement when plaintiff has proven
that it is entitled to the monopoly represented by the
copyrights
• In this case, the defendant should be prevented from infringing those rights as long
as they continue to exist
• If they continue to operate of such infringement, it will be a contempt of court
• It is also to direct the defendant to do something else
• This may happen even in cases where plaintiff has suffered little or no actual loss -
for such, a mandatory injunction
3) It is also granted when the threatened harms to plaintiff
outweighs the harm the injunction may inflict of the defendant.
• the plaintiff has the burden of showing that the defendant had infringed plaintiff’s
works
• A preliminary injunction is granted before or during trial, with a view to preserve the
status quo before final judgment
4) To prevent imminent infringements of their
intellectual property rights
• As such, interlocutory injunction
• This is also to order the cessation of any effective infringements, where the
parties infringed must incur fines under the law for their continuations

Case: SAP (M) Sdn Bhd & Anor v I World HRM

Net Sdn. Bhd. [2006] 2 MLJ 678
• The plaintiffs alleged the defendants had breached the licence agreement by providing
service bureau applications to third parties without having plaintiff’s permission
• They were also reproducing and downloading the software of plaintiff on computers of
third parties
• Held: the balance of convenience favours the plaintiffs since they were not able to
control licensing of software as it would destroy the value of the copyright in the
software if the injunction was not granted.