Zyfas Medical Co (Sued as a firm) v Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. & Anor
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Judges (1)
Counsel (6)
Case Significance
Zyfas Medical Co v Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc and another [2026] SGHCR 9, decided on 7 April 2026 by AR Vikram Rajaram, addressed a narrow but important costs-taxation question: whether assessment of costs from a bifurcated liability trial should be deferred pending a separate damages inquiry into losses caused by an interim injunction that had been set aside. The respondents — Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Johnson & Johnson Pte. Ltd. — argued that Court of Appeal guidance required deferral so that the taxing court could assess proportionality against the "stake in the controversy." AR Rajaram rejected this, holding that the damages inquiry concerned a distinct interim-injunction inquiry, not the substantive liability claims, and therefore the Court of Appeal's proportionality guidance did not apply.
Summary
Zyfas Medical Co applied to proceed with taxation of its costs following its successful defence of patent infringement claims by Millennium Pharmaceuticals and Johnson & Johnson in a bifurcated trial, while a separate inquiry into losses caused by a previously set-aside interim injunction remained ongoing. The respondents sought to defer the costs assessment until the damages inquiry was complete, arguing proportionality required the court to know the full "stake in the controversy." The court dismissed the deferral application, holding that the Court of Appeal's proportionality guidance did not apply where the pending inquiry concerned losses from a separate interim injunction rather than the substantive claims resolved at trial.
Should costs from a liability trial be deferred if a separate damages inquiry on a set-aside injunction is pending?
AR Vikram Rajaram held in Zyfas Medical Co v Millennium Pharmaceuticals [2026] SGHCR 9 that costs need not await the injunction-damages inquiry, which was a distinct matter from the liability trial. The Court of Appeal's proportionality guidance on "stake in the controversy" did not apply to that separate interim-injunction inquiry.
Cases Cited (3)
Judgment
Read the full judgment on the official Singapore Courts portal.
Read on eLitigationSource: eLitigation ([2026] SGHCR 9)