[Malaysia SME] Santa Cola: Trademarking People
The Next Generation Of Offensive Trademarks
By Lydia Rhanakumar Disclaimer: Some words in this article may offend the sensitivities of certain individuals. Please exercise discretion when reading. Callipygian. Intrigued? Well, you should be – the word means “having well-shaped buttocks” and is a registered trademark in the US! Now for those of you whose curiosity was aroused by the said word, […]
Crocodile Scramble in Court
Successful brands will undoubtedly inspire certain parties to take advantage of them, whether it is against the law or not. Companies who have created successful brands tend to be optimistic with regard to their sales, they expect it to climb steadily to consistently reach the company’s goals. They might achieve this by pushing their marketing […]
[New Sunday Times] Can you trademark a person?
Santa Cola: Trademarking People
“Did you know Santa was invented by Coca-Cola? He’s actually a trademark of Coca-Cola, that’s why he’s always dressed in red and white, it’s the corporate colour,” I was told by a teenager recently. Naturally, my first reaction was to shrug it off as the wild imaginings of a precocious anti-establishment pubescent boy whose parents […]
“Regis”-trable For More Than One Party After All!
Slightly more than a year from the Opposition proceeding in the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore, it seems that the trademark ownership battle between American hotel giants Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide (“Starwood”), owner of the “ST. REGIS” trademark, and their Australian adversary Staywell Hospitality Group Pty Ltd (“Staywell”), proprietor of the “” mark, continued to […]
Much Ado About Nutting: Nutella Vs. Nutello
In the recent Singapore Court of Appeal (CA) case of Sarika Connoisseur Café Pte Ltd v Ferrero SpA, the CA was asked to resolve several issues on the matters of well-known trademark infringement, dilution and passing off. Sarika Connoisseur Café (the Appellant), is the owner of the “TCC – the connoisseur concerto” café chain in Singapore. […]
[ITMA Review] Malaysia’s Year in Mark
[The Petri Dish] Are Human Genes Patentable?
Definitive Decision Delivered in Degem Dispute
Here in Malaysia, we practice the “first-to-use” principle, meaning the first user of a trademark is generally considered the true owner of the mark. Therefore owners of trademarks who have failed to register their trademarks, or applied to register them at a later date, would still possess limited unregistered rights over their trademarks in Malaysia. […]