The Kuala Lumpur High Court has fixed Dec 2 for the dispute between AV Asia Sdn Bhd and Measat to go for arbitration over the supply of satellite television dishes in Malaysia.

Measat has earlier applied for the matter to be brought for arbitration.

High Court judge Azahar Mohamed also fixed the same date for mention of AV Asia's application for an interlocutory injunction .

AV Asia, which provides television support equipment, has applied to restrain satellite operator Measat or its agents from making use of any confidential information supplied by them to Measat under their Mutual Non-Disclosure Agreement (MNDA).

Put simply, AV Asia wants to stop Measat from supplying its customers with satellite dishes that the latter had manufactured using the technology allegedly provided by the company that it holds as confidential information.

AV Asia had on Sept 28 filed a RM1.3 billion suit against Measat and Tele System Electronic.

It alleged in its statement of claim that Measat and Tele System - a satellite dish manufacturer - were in violation of the MNDA dated Aug 1, 2008.

astro satellite dish The agreement was for the plaintiff and Japanese company Maspro to develop a system to reduce the problem of 'rain fade' (disruption of broadcast during thunderstorms) that plagues Measat customers.

Upon completion of the testing and R&D (research and development) on Measat's satellite dish, an expert report was submitted.

Maspro had on Aug 1, 2008, granted AV Asia the exclusive right to manufacture and sell Maspro's anti-rain fade product in Malaysia.

Following AV Asia's agreement with Measat, the former had provided the defendant with confidential information for the limited purpose of the MNDA, and Measat was to have taken reasonable steps to preserve the confidentiality of the agreement.

‘No need for new satellite dishes’

However, the plaintiff claimed that on May 7, 2009, Measat conducted a tender exercise inviting bidders to submit tenders to supply the satellite dish that formed the subject matter of the MNDA.

AV Asia alleged that Measat disclosed confidential information to bidders in the second tender exercise.

The company is seeking RM4.41 million in special damages to cover the cost of its R&D exercise and total loss of potential profit of RM1.342 billion.

AV Asia also claimed that Measat had used confidential information to launch the Astro B.yond high definition product, which it alleged is a scam product.

It argued that customers need not install a new satellite dish to receive high definition transmission, and alleged that such information was withheld from customers.

Both Measat and Astro have denied the allegations.

“The HD service has been available to customers since December last year and the alleged use of confidential information is incorrect and strongly denied. The claim will be vigorously defended,” said Astro.

“In the meantime, we wish to reassure our customers that MBNS (Measat) remains committed to continue serving our customers, and providing a range of innovative services such as High Definition (HD), Personal Video Recording (PVR) and soon, Video On Demand (VOD).

"The Astro B.yond evolution is in tandem with global best practices and we remain committed to enhance our value proposition to our customers."