KONICA MINOLTA BUSINESS SOLUTIONS ASIA PTE. LTD. v NPE PRINT COMMUNICATIONS PTE. LTD.

[2023] SGHC 144 High Court (General Division) 17 May 2023 HC/S 254/2020

16 cases cited (13 SG, 3 foreign)

Key facts

Court	High Court (General Division)
Decided	17 May 2023
Judge	Goh Yihan
Charges / claim	Contract, Commercial Transactions
Counsel	David Ong & Co., Withers KhattarWong LLP, Beitris Yong Pei Juan, Chua Yuet Min Matthew, Deborah Evaline Barker, Farahna Alam, Ong Lian-Yi Gregory

Source: [2023] SGHC 144, High Court (General Division), decided 17 May 2023 — eLitigation. Updated 10 July 2026.

Catchwords

Contract — Remedies — Damages Commercial Transactions — Sale of goods — Breach of contract Contract — Contractual terms — Partly written and partly oral agreements

Practice Areas

Contract Commercial Transactions

Judges (1)

Goh Yihan Delivered

Counsel (7)

David Ong & Co. Firm

Withers KhattarWong LLP Firm

Beitris Yong Pei Juan Counsel for the defendant

Chua Yuet Min Matthew Counsel for the plaintiff

Deborah Evaline Barker Counsel for the defendant Farahna Alam Counsel for the defendant

Ong Lian-Yi Gregory Counsel for the plaintiff

Parties (2)

Konica Minolta Business Solutions Asia Pte Ltd Plaintiff

NPE Print Communications Pte Ltd Defendant

Case Significance

Konica Minolta Business Solutions Asia Pte Ltd v NPE Print Communications Pte Ltd [2023] SGHC 144 is a reserved judgment of Goh Yihan JC in the General Division of the High Court, delivered on 17 May 2023 in Suit No 254 of 2020. Konica Minolta, the manufacturer and supplier of the industrial ink-jet digital printer Accurio Jet KM-1, sued NPE Print Communications, a commercial printing company, principally for the balance 80% of the purchase price of the KM-1, being $1,326,800. The dispute concerns a partly written and partly oral agreement for the sale of goods, breach of contract, damages, and NPE's counterclaim.

Summary

Konica Minolta sued NPE Print Communications for the balance 80% of the purchase price (about $1,326,800) of an Accurio Jet KM-1 industrial printer and for accrued print charges, while NPE counterclaimed for losses from the machine's malfunction on the basis of misrepresentation or breach of contract. The court found Konica had delivered a defective machine and was in breach, entitling NPE to damages, though Konica was entitled to some of the print charges for prints NPE successfully obtained, with quantum and costs to be addressed by further submissions.

What was Konica Minolta Business Solutions Asia Pte Ltd v NPE Print Communications Pte Ltd [2023] SGHC 144 about?

Goh Yihan JC heard Konica Minolta's claim against NPE Print Communications for the balance 80% of the purchase price of an Accurio Jet KM-1 industrial printer, being $1,326,800, arising from a partly written and partly oral sale-of-goods agreement.

What sum was claimed in Konica Minolta Business Solutions Asia Pte Ltd v NPE Print Communications Pte Ltd [2023] SGHC 144?

Konica Minolta claimed the balance 80% of the purchase price of the Accurio Jet KM-1 printer, amounting to $1,326,800, from NPE Print Communications, which also raised a counterclaim in the proceedings over the sale-of-goods contract.

Cases Cited (16)

SG (2)

[1991] SGHC 27 [2022] SGHC 227

SLR (11)

[1992] 2 SLR(R) 834 [1995] 1 SLR(R) 623 [2006] 2 SLR(R) 586 [2007] 3 SLR(R) 782 [2008] 2 SLR(R) 623 [2008] 3 SLR(R) 1029 [2012] 1 SLR 427 [2013] 4 SLR 886 [2015] 1 SLR 521 [2016] 2 SLR 1056 [2018] 2 SLR 655

UK (3)

[1965] 1 WLR 623 [1977] 1 WLR 1262 [1995] 3 WLR 118