Common Law Proprietorship: Is Evidence Territorially Restricted?
By Amir Murshidi The established principle of trademarks is that the protection is territorial in nature. Does that mean without a registration, trademark owners do not have rights in a particular country? Yes and no – yes in countries that adopt the “first-to-file” rule while in common law jurisdictions (Malaysia included), owners who use the […]
iInventedthat: Products (Co-)Invented by Steve Jobs
By Joel Cheong On 5 October 2011, the world lost a brilliant visionary and entrepreneur whose legacy includes a half-eaten piece of fruit, a computer animation studio whose mascot hates the letter ‘i’ with a passion, and prohibitively expensive consumer electronics products beginning with the letter ‘i’. Born on 24 February 1955, Steven Paul Jobs […]
[Malaysia SME] Game-Changers: Technologies That Re-Wrote the Rules of the Game
ASEAN Big Players Using AI to Transform Their Industries
Think of AI and what comes to mind is an image of a naked Arnold Schwarzenegger and his equally unclothed metallic friends with ominous red glowing eyes gunning after you and your other squishy out-of-shape human friends who are deemed to be “low threat”. Thanks to Hollywood, we may subscribe to the idea that artificial […]
Caught with Their Pants Down: Mohammad Hafiz bin Hamidun v Kamdar Sdn. Bhd.
What grounds, if any, do famous personalities have to prevent their name from being used by others under the guise of false endorsements or association? Here’s the story of what singer and song composer, “Hafiz Hamidun” (the Plaintiff), did. Apart from his musical pursuits, the Plaintiff had also incorporated a company selling clothes including Baju […]
Patenting Biotechnology Inventions
By P. Kandiah & Sharrmila Palanyandy In recent years, research and development in biotechnology field, especially in medicine and agricultural biotechnology is emerging rapidly. Researchers are encouraged to patent their inventions in order to commercialise their inventions and enjoy the benefits obtained thereafter. Mostly, biotechnology inventions are associated with materials present in nature which require […]
Enforcement of Trademarks in Myanmar
Enforcement and Border Control Measures Myanmar is the largest country in the Southeast Asian mainland and is bordered by India, Bangladesh, Thailand, Laos and China. Geographically, Myanmar is strategically located to make trade deals with the two most populous countries and fastest growing markets in the world, India and China. Currently, the Myanmar Customs Department […]
[MGCC Perspectives] The Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious FAIR
[Malaysia SME] Trademark Matters: Mere collections of similar names may not be called family!
No Noodling About: Hakubaku Co. Ltd. v Asiamega Food Manufacturers Sdn. Bhd.
This recent case provides food for thought by enforcing once again that the first user of a trademark in good faith in Malaysia is the rightful common law owner of the mark. Attempts to noodle around with the core principles of trademark and copyright law do not mix well with the Courts’ stand to uphold […]