Offshore Security Surveillance
By Ilangkumanan Kashaban Safety and security has been a growing concern recently throughout the world. The main reason being is accidents, i.e. fire and explosions and criminal activities, such as act of terrorism and piracy. Land is not the only place for such threat, seas and oceans are getting the same as well. In past […]
Reaping Riches in the Creative Industry
By Geetha Kandiah Books, music, pictures, videos and other creative works have special intangible rights attached to them, known as “copyright”. These rights are owned by the creators of the work – authors, producers, photographers, musicians, songwriters, artists and such – who can choose to do anything they wish with their exclusive rights. The copyright […]
[K]ONFUSED with KIKO and KEICHO?
By Geetha Kandiah “I’m a big believer in that if you focus on good skin care, you won’t really need a lot of make-up” Demi Moore once said. It is not surprising that the global value sales in the beauty industry is expected to exceed US$131 billion in 2019, with skin care as the biggest […]
A Billion-Dollar Question
By Samini Thiruchelvam Genetic diseases and disorders which are caused by faulty genes in cells are debilitating and worsen the quality of life of a patient. But what if you could return the faulty genes to normalcy as easily as fixing your profile picture with Photoshop? Or even create a designer baby with desired features? […]
The Fall of a Stack of Patent Claims in Malaysia
By P. Kandiah In patent practice, it is common to have at least one independent claim followed by at least one or more claims depending on the independent claim. The dependent claim would be interpreted to mean to claim the features claimed in the independent claim and the features in the dependent claims, thus narrowing […]
“I Thought Of That First!” – Can You Patent That Bright Idea?
By Joel Cheong Ever had that momentary flash of genius where you had an idea so bright and radiant that it lit up the space above the latrine you were sitting on and you couldn’t help but exclaim “Aha!”, to the horror of the occupants of nearby cubicles? What if that idea was related to […]
Smash hits in tennis patents
By Ilangkumanan Kashaban It’s January and for die-hard sports fans worldwide, that means it’s time for the Australian Open. Yes, it’s tennis time! The first grand slam tournament of the year has kicked off, leaving tennis enthusiasts waiting with bated breath to find out if Serbian sensation, Novak Djokovic will clinch his sixth Australian Open […]
What does the TPPA have in store for patents?
By P. Kandiah At long last, the final draft of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) has been officially published, with Chapter 18 of the draft dealing with Intellectual Property (IP) Rights. This article will examine the provisions relating to patents, though the chapter also deals with other IP Rights such as Trademark, Industrial Design, Copyright, […]
File or Fabricate: Which Comes First, the Patent Application or the Prototype?
By Joel Cheong Consider the following fictitious scenario: Eddy Sun is a seasoned engineer who developed a prototype of a self-powering cold fusion lamp for refrigerators in the 90s that provides both illumination and refrigeration effect, but due to management shelving the prototype in favour of eco-friendly refrigerants, a patent application for the prototype was […]
Manchester Derby in Singapore Court
With many Southeast Asian countries being involved in tobacco farming, it is easy to see how trademark protection over cigarettes would be important in the region. Cigarette manufacturer Jamal Abdulnaser Mahmoud Al Mahamid (“the Plaintiff”) and Global Tobacco Manufacturers (International) Sdn. Bhd. (“the Defendant”) clearly exemplified this when they brought their dispute to the High […]