(01 June 2012) marks a significant development in copyright protection in Malaysia with the coming into force of the Copyright (Voluntary Notification) Regulations 2012. There is still no formal copyright registration process (due to automatic protection by virtue of Berne Convention) but in order to afford copyright owners more tangible protection, they can now notify and deposit a copy of the work eligible for copyright with MyIPO.

The rightful Applicant under the new Regulations is the author, owner, assignee or licensee of the copyrighted work; but an agent like Henry Goh may make such notification on behalf of these persons.

A Notification under the Regulations shall be made by a citizen or permanent resident of Malaysia only. The Notification should be accompanied with the relevant official form(s), a Statutory Declaration to assert the Applicant’s locus standi, a copy of the work, date and place of first publication, and prescribed fee. The work must be titled and if it is in a language other than our national language or English, the name of that language and its translation must be provided.

One requirement is that the copy of work must be “clear and of durable quality to the satisfaction of the Controller” (standard opened to interpretation); although either hard or electronic copies are permitted. If a replacement is required by the Controller, it must be provided within 30 days of the request; otherwise the notification is deemed as withdrawn.

Upon entry of the Notification into the Register, the Controller shall inform the Applicant in writing. The Applicant may go one step further and request for a proper certificate to this effect by filing a form and paying the prescribed fee.

The High Court can order for a correction, expungement or amendment of the Register and the Controller must be served with such a court order. There is also a duty to notify the Controller of any assignment, licence or testamentary disposition to the copyrighted work.

Please contact us for further information.