Jacky Lam acted for successful plaintiff in Emagist Entertainment Limited v Nether Games (Hong Kong) Limited & Ors [2022] HKCFI 899

Jacky Lam (in a team led by Jimmy Ma, and leading Owen Kun) acted for the successful Plaintiff in Emagist Entertainment Limited v Nether Games (Hong Kong) Limited & Ors [2022] HKCFI 899. The Court of First Instance (Judgment of 28 March 2022) ruled on the common pitfalls of parties failing to outline the structures and positions in business ventures (canvassing issues of intellectual property, common classifications of partnership versus employment relationships, and corporate shareholdings).

Importantly, the learned Hon. Lok J stated at §174 of the Judgment: "This case provides a classic lesson to all those who are enthusiastic in setting up their own start-up operations, in particular in the information and technology sector.  They may have a lot of dreams when they start to work on their project, but they may not give a lot of thought as to the structure of their operation and what happens when the business becomes a success or a failure... Spending sometime in the early stage to discuss and agree on these details will help to manage the expectations of the parties, which would in turn reduce the risk of having much more serious confrontations and disputes in the end.  It would be very unfortunate if a business becomes a victim of its own success.  The facts of this case speak volume of this lesson. "