THE Kuala Lumpur High Court ordered the government to return the 172 Swatch watches, including the Pride Collection series, seized by home ministry officers last year.
Judge Datuk Amarjeet Singh ordered the ministry to return all the watches within 14 days from today.
He said the home ministry acted against the law in seizing the watches.
The watches, including Swatch’s rainbow-themed “Pride Collection”, were seized by home ministry enforcement officers between May 13 and 15 last year.
They were seized from 11 Swatch shops in Pavilion KL, 1 Utama, Sunway Pyramid, Mid Valley Megamall, and Suria Sabah.
The move came after social media users linked the collection to British band Coldplay’s support for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community.
In a statement in August last year, the home ministry announced that it had gazetted a ban on "any publication related to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and + Plus (LGBTQ+) in any form appearing on Swatch watches of any collection including the boxes, wrappers, accessories or any other related things”.
The same month the High Court granted Swatch Malaysia leave to commence judicial review proceedings against the government over the seizure of the watches, including those from its “Pride Collection” series.
Swatch claimed the seizure was illegal as the watches are not a form of “publication” within the definition given to the term under the Printing Presses and Publication Act 1984 (PPPA).
According to the group, it had been selling its watches since 1995 in Malaysia at its stores, which mostly employed Malaysians and through authorised resellers.
It said it had never been notified of any complaints regarding the watches by the ministry. - November 25, 2024
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