This article was updated in June 2025 to improve accuracy and readability. Since our last article in August 2019 discussing Malaysia’s new Trademarks Act 2019 (“the Act”) and its subsequent enforcement on 27 December 2019, the world has experienced dramatic…
Malaysia’s Patents Act 1983, Industrial Designs Act 1996 and Trademarks Act 2019 all contain provisions under which a licensee of the registration owner may take action for infringement in their own name in certain prescribed circumstances. These provisions reflect the…
In our last article, we have explored one of the fundamentals of copyright in that an original work is protectable under the Copyright Act 1987 (“CA”) if it falls under one of the categories of the protectable works under section…
What is in a name? Can one be entitled to use it legally as a trademark? The answers may be gleaned from the recently decided case of Diesel S.P.A. v Bontton Sdn Bhd [2020] MLJU 715. In response to a trademark…
In a landmark 2017 decision, the United Kingdom’s Supreme Court determined that patent infringement can arise even in a scenario where the alleged infringement is outside the wording of the claim when construed according to established principles of construction. Traditionally,…
This article was first published by IP Watchdog, Inc. on 26 March 2020 and is reproduced with the kind permission of the author. To view the original publication, please click here. If while you’re reading this you are stuck at home…
The newly minted Malaysian Trademarks Act 2019, enforced since 27 December 2019 gives a breath of fresh air for well-known trademark owners. Protection for this category was first introduced in 2001 when the now repealed Trade Marks Act 1976 was…
As part of Singapore’s continuous commitment to regularly review its intellectual property regimes to ensure that they are progressive and world-class, Singapore has signed and acceded to the Locarno Agreement Establishing an International Classification for Industrial Designs on 19 December…
The law of copyright is based on the principle that anyone who, by his or her own skill and labour, creates an original work shall enjoy the exclusive right to copy that work. Anyone who copies the created work without…
In a rare though welcome reversal, the Federal Court in Merck Sharp & Dohme & Anor v Hovid Berhad ([2019] 9 CLJ 1) has over-ruled its earlier authority on the effect of invalidation of an independent claim of a patent on the…
Earlier this year in a decision for Sunseap Group Pte Ltd & 2 Ors v Sun Electric Pte Ltd [2019] SGCA 4 (hereafter “Sunseap”)—a case between two Singapore based solar power companies—the Court of Appeal ruled that a High Court…
On 27 September 2019, Malaysia deposited the instrument of accession and became the 106th member country of the Madrid Protocol System. Prior to the said date, Malaysia was one of the two remaining ASEAN countries that still had not acceded…