Shwe Trademarks in Myanmar: Challenges & Opportunities

By Thein Thein Win Myanmar, also called the “Golden Land”, is known for its many ancient golden pagodas, sacred Buddhist monasteries and gilded monuments. Myanmar people adore yellow gold (“Shwe” in the Burmese language) with gold being a common investment and store of value. It is no surprise then that locals also use “Shwe” as a […]
From Tatooine to Naboo: Intellectual Property Protection in The Star Wars Franchise

By Hoh Jerick ’Tis the season when the force awakens fans of the Star Wars franchise around the galaxy far, far away. With “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker”, the last in the current trilogy coming out this month, let’s take a look at the various Intellectual Properties (IP) under Lucasfilm (now acquired by […]
Wherefore Art Thou Spider-Man?

By Hoh Jerick Tensions rose, jaws floored – will Spider-Man no longer be part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) after the sequel “Far From Home”? The recent uproar and disagreement between Sony Pictures and Disney hinged on the fact that fans of the MCU movie series may not be able to enjoy the portrayal […]
[MGCC Perspectives] Can Slogans Be Registered as Trademarks?
[Malaysia SME] A True Trademark Conspiracy
Strategic Moves When Patenting in ASEAN

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN in short, is a group of 10 countries located in Southeast Asia, which are, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Established on 8 August 1967, the purpose of ASEAN was to promote the development of the Southeast Asian region into a […]
[Malaysia SME] Check It Before You Wreck It!
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 […]