PT SURYA CITRA MULTIMEDIA V BRIGHTPOINT SINGAPORE PTE LTD

[2018] SGHC 245, High Court of Singapore, Belinda Ang Saw Ean J, 9 November 2018

Contracts - Sale of goods - Time of the essence - Mercantile contracts - Whether time of the essence in contract for the sale of goods - Mitigation – Seller rejecting buyer's post-breach offer to purchase rejected goods - Whether seller's rejection reasonable - Sale of Goods Act (Cap 393, 1999 Rev Ed) sections 10, 48 and 50

The plaintiff, SCM, was the retailer and the defendant, Brightpoint, was the wholesaler under a sub-distributor agreement for the distribution of Blackberry mobile phones in Indonesia. The claims arose under price protection clauses in the agreement upon the reduction of retail process by the manufacturer of such phones. The purpose of the price protection clauses was to protect the sub-distributor in the event of such price reductions. There was also a counterclaim for damages by the defendant for the alleged failure by the plaintiff to pick up certain mobile phones according to its purchase orders. SCM argued that Brightpoint ought to have given notice before reselling the rejected mobile phones, and that it had failed to mitigate damages by rejecting SCM's offer to buy them at the prevailing market price.