Melissa is a partner in our Intellectual Property practice. She has a focus on dispute resolution and has led as counsel in various intellectual property and commercial disputes. In one such case, she represented a footwear producer to obtain a trade description order from the High Court, on the back of which the authorities carried out a raid leading to the seizure of over 70,000 infringing items.
Other notable IP disputes in which she was part of the core teams acting include the first-ever patent appeal taken up to the Malaysian Federal Court as well as one of the most publicized franchise disputes in Malaysia to date.
With a keen interest on novel and developing products, she advises also on regulatory & compliance for pharmaceuticals, medical devices & food and, increasingly, in the areas of product liability & investigations.
Legal 500 Asia Pacific (2019) reported that "patient, well-prepared" Melissa Long is "a business-savvy strategist". She is also noted by World Trademark Review’s WTR 1000 (2019, 2020 & 2021), particularly for her trademark disputes work for local companies.
Key Practice Areas
- IP Litigation and Enforcement
- Civil & Commercial Litigation
- Healthcare, Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals
- Product Regulatory & Compliance
- Acted for an international technology & e-commerce company in a successful invalidation challenge in the High Court against a bad faith trademark registration.
- Acted for a local footwear company to obtain a trade description order from the High Court, which led to a raid action by enforcement authorities and seizure of infringing goods worth over RM600,000.
- Part of team that acted for a Taiwanese bubble tea franchisor against its former master franchisee in an application and subsequent appeal for interim injunction in aid of international arbitration, following the latter’s launch of a competing business and takeover of franchised outlets in Malaysia worth millions in business revenue.
- Part of team acting for the appellants in first-ever patent appeal to the Federal Court of Malaysia concerning the invalidation of a valuable roller-shutter patent and the interplay of independent & dependent patent claims.
- Acted for an Ipoh coffee producer to successfully resist an appeal to the High Court against the Registrar of Trade Mark’s decision to dismiss a trademark opposition brought by a competing coffee products trader.
- Secured transfers of various disputed domain names through UDRP and MyNIC Domain Name Dispute Resolution proceedings, including for a non-profit international institution, a regional mobile technology company and an international motorsport racing event corporation. Also successfully managed takedowns of various abusive websites including those mimicking genuine financial and legal service providers.
- Acted for the local supply arm of a global medical device group in defence of a product liability claim and in the successful appeal, the trial of which involved the taking of evidence via video link from a technical witness in France.
- Co-counsel for a foreign franchisor of workforce development programs in defence of a wrongful termination claim by a former franchisee who sought over RM 13 million in damages and lost profits.
- Acted for a general insurer to defend against an application to the High Court for a premature discharge of a performance bond for over RM2.7 million and release of cash collateral.
- Part of several response teams called on to urgently advise and set aside ex parte injunctions and ‘Anton Piller’ search & seizure orders. At the other end, part of team that applied for and executed an Anton Piller order in order to preserve evidence for a claim worth over a billion ringgit.
- Generally advised on pharmaceutical and medical device marketing authorisations, and on related advertising codes and restrictions.
- Advised across a broad range of regulations and requirements pertaining to general consumer products as well as other regulated products, including on reporting and corrective action obligations and strategies.
- Represented various food producers & distributors under investigation by the authorities and/or in response to prosecution, successfully securing discharges in several cases.
- Acted for importer in response to the detention of frozen consignments weighing over 112 metric tonnes by the Malaysian Quarantine and Inspection Services (MAQIS).
- Acted for importer in relation to detained consignment and dispute with MAQIS over organic fertilizer classification.
- Advised a veterinary solutions company in relation to an investigation by the authorities for alleged unauthorised movement of animal product.
Qualifications:
- Advocate and Solicitor, High Court of Malaya (2013)
- Barrister-at-Law (Inner Temple) (2010)
- LL.B (Hons), King’s College (2009)