The Malaysia National Group of the International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (AIPPI Malaysia) had conducted a seminar on 18 January 2018 in Kuala Lumpur. The event was attended by members of AIPPI Malaysia together with patent and trademark agents as well as legal practitioners. Henry Goh was represented by our Legal Counsel, Kelvin Ganesan and Chin Khang Juin, our Legal Executive.

The seminar was kicked off by the President of AIPPI Malaysia with a few words on the history of AIPPI and AIPPI Malaysia. The two topics presented and discussed were Bad Faith Trademarks and Protection of Graphical User Interfaces. The first presentation was on the topic on Bad Faith Trademarks which included the meaning of bad faith, the current laws related to bad faith trademarks in other countries such as UK, Australia and Singapore as well as Malaysia and the current position in the respective countries. This was then followed by a brief question and answer session before a short break.

The second presentation was on the topic of Protection of Graphical User Interfaces, which covered topics such as the definition of graphical user interfaces (GUIs) with examples. This was followed by a discussion on how GUIs are protected in Malaysia as well as the current standing of the various member countries of the AIPPI in respect to the protection of GUIs. A short question and answer session also followed thereafter.

It was considered a success as these two subject matters were part of a 4 study question raised at the 2017 AIPPI World Congress held at Sydney. All in, it was a well organised and well executed event and a good learning session for those who attended.