Trademark Matters: A Case of Chocolate Chip Cookies
Danone Biscuits Manufacturing (M) Sdn Bhd V. Hwa Tai Industries Bhd FOOD manufacturers would stand to gain from paying close attention to a recent High Court decision on a case involving claims of trademark infringement and passing off. On 29 October 1990, Danone Biscuits Manufacturing (M) Sdn Bhd (“the Plaintiff”) applied to register their “ChipsMore” […]
Tough Times Ahead For The Pharmaceutical Industry?
Things have been going very well for the pharmaceutical industry over the past decade or so. A series of “blockbuster” drugs has been bankrolling the industry players fortunate enough to own the rights to those drugs and at the same time financing their search for the “Next Big Drug”. Global spending on pharmaceutical drugs exceeded […]
What’s Happening In The Fight Against Counterfeiting In Malaysia?
Illicit trade involving counterfeiting, naturally a very harmful form of encroachment, could easily injure the rightful ownership of an intellectual property; and in Malaysia, counterfeiting is not taken lightly. In the eyes of law, infringement of intellectual property is a serious offence, with possible civil or criminal prosecutions against an infringer. Basically, if you own […]
More On Medicinal Inventions
We previously discussed Japan Patent Office (JPO) examination guidelines on what is patentable as “medicinal use” in respect of “dosage and administration” of chemical entities. In this article, we shall look at the standard of JPO on the patentability of medicinal materials (cells, etc) derived from living organisms which are publicly known. Although Patent Law […]
Incorporating The Merdeka Spirit In Your Trademark? Think Again!
Marks are a very valuable form of intellectual property because they become closely associated with quality and consumer expectations of a product or service. This explains why most entrepreneurs would want to register their marks, whatever the cost. However, before creating a mark, one of the things that business owners should realize is that they […]
Global Wine Wars
The source of wine has always been associated with Europe, in particular France, Italy and Germany. This premier position has recently been challenged successfully by wine producers from the new world, namely Australia, New Zealand, USA (in particular California), Peru, Chile and South Africa. More recently we also hear of good quality wines from India […]
Has your Patent Application Been Rejected?
What do you do if your patent application is refused or objected to or has received an adverse report from the Patent Office? Does it mean the end of your patent application? The patent applicant must know what happens at the Patent Office and what to do upon receiving the examination report. Examiner’s duties In […]
2008 Ranking In Patent Filings
Universities, research institutions, companies and entrepreneurs have been constantly urged to step up their research, in particular industrially applicable research. This prompts us to take a look at the performance thereof in 2008. The figures obtained from the Malaysian Intellectual Property Corporation (MyIPO) show an improved performance over 2007 in some sectors of the economy.
McCurry Thwarts McDonald’s At The Court Of Appeal
On 27th April 2009, Justice Datuk Gopal Sri Ram delivered a favourable judgement to the owner of McCurry Restaurant at the Court of Appeal. The use of the trademark “McCurry” in relation to Indian and Malaysian food was not found to be an act of passing off of McDonald’s Corporation’s food and beverage business. Apart from […]
Completeness of Research For Obtaining a Patent
Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical product perspective. In many cases we often find that although researchers consider their research as complete, we take the view that the research is incomplete to justify the patent claims filed. This article proposes to discuss the requirements of one aspect of patentability. One of the three legal requirements to obtain a […]