The legal battle between Fish & Co and Manhattan Fish Market in 2004 is as exciting as a Channel 8 drama

Last Updated on 2017-07-25 , 9:38 am

Fish & Co and Manhattan Fish Market are probably the two names that come to mind once you think of eating fish and chips in Singapore.

However, did you know that both restaurants were embroiled in a dramatic legal dispute in 2004, and that only ended after 6 years in 2010?

This drama was sibeh long, man. Here is the lowdown on everything that happened between them.

In 2004, an employee left Fish & Co and then he was sued by the restaurant for breach of his employment obligations under his previous Employment Agreement.

This was because the ex-employee was involved in setting up “The Manhattan Fish Market” restaurant in Malaysia. The Manhattan Fish Market was found to be using serving pans, sauces, slogans, jingles as well as catch phrases that were originally property of Fish & Co.

On top of those, they had already been serving signature dishes that were identical to that of Fish & Co, such although those dishes were admittedly copied and served in many other restaurants around the world.

The first suit was settled out-of-court in the end. Both the ex-employee and the owners of The Manhattan Fish Market in Singapore and Malaysia signed the Settlement Deed with Fish & Co.

However,  The Manhattan Fish Market continued to copy some aspects of Fish & Co.

Therefore, several months later, Fish & Co filed a new suit against them again, claiming its sales continued to be affected by MFM’s deliberate breach.

In Singapore, the High Court ordered the Singapore division of The Manhattan Fish Market to pay damages amounting to S$269,000 with 3 percent interest from 20 September 2005 to 26 November 2009.

In Malaysia, The Manhattan Fish Market  had to pay Fish & Co. RM$862,920.04 with 4 percent interest from 26 September 2005 to 5 March 2010.

That came up to a total of nearly $800,000!

 

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This article was first published on goodyfeed.com

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