Intellectual Property
By Linh Nguyen
Pursuant to international norms, the protection of industrial design is jurisdictional, meaning it is limited within the boundary of the territory where the application for protection is submitted and granted. To obtain protection in various jurisdictions, each industrial design application must conform with the specific rules and procedures of each country.
By Georgina Scott
Royalties are an indispensable aspect of a franchise business. However, deciding on a suitable royalty rate can be difficult! Oftentimes, it is a delicate balancing act between two significant risks: undervaluing your brand or franchisees paying an unreasonable amount.
By Hemanisha Baskaran
Remember how we used to be awed by robots when we were kids? Growing up watching futuristic movies like A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, I, Robot, Ex Machina (English movies); Enthiran and its sequel, 2.0 (Tamil movies), I used to wonder what the future would be like when we co-exist with advanced technology.
By Sharrmila Palanyandy
The first COVID-19 cases were reported in Wuhan, China in late 2019. The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak of COVID-19 to be a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on 30 January 2020 and characterized it as a pandemic on 11 March 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic remains a nightmare as it has rapidly spread across the globe and has caused a high number of fatalities. Not forgetting the impact on the global economy and from which many big companies are still struggling to date.
By Georgina Scott
Co-branding partnerships have become increasingly popular since the late 1950s. In today’s global, hyper-competitive market, leveraging your trademarks through a co-branding strategy presents a lucrative opportunity to increase brand visibility, awareness and recognition.
By Linh Nguyen
Trademarks, protected by intellectual property (IP) rights, either in the form of registration or recognition through use, must be a distinct sign as it plays a major role in making each enterprise’s product/services distinguishable from other enterprises’ products/services. Failing which, jurisdictions with a trademark registration system usually allow third parties to challenge the registrability of an applicant’s mark through an opposition mechanism. Via such mechanism, the opponent submits the grounds of opposition to the IP Office for its review and decision.
By Georgina Scott
In 2020, the global cannabis market was estimated to be worth USD20.5 billion. By 2026, this number is expected to grow to USD90.4 billion. The rapid growth of this industry can be largely attributed to the increased legalisation of cannabis across the globe, cannabis’ increased use for medical purposes, and shifting social attitudes towards acceptance. Unsurprisingly, the United States accounts for the largest market share within this growing market. Major states such as California, New York, Illinois and New Jersey have all taken steps to legalise the recreational use of marijuana. In Malaysia, however, the story is vastly different.
By Nur Anis Ahmad Burhan
Congratulations! You have taken a brilliant step by filing your patent application before the patent office to protect your invention and prevent others from commercially making or using it without your consent. Now that your patent application has been filed with your local patent office, you should consider protecting your invention in other countries too. Patents are territorial rights which means as the owner of the invention, you need to know that the exclusive rights of the patent are only applicable in countries where the patent has been filed. Hence, if you are thinking about protecting your invention in other countries where you want to market your invention, then it is best to file your patent application in those countries. Let us see the strategies on how to go about doing so.
By Georgina Scott
Prosecco, a white wine traditionally hailing from northern Italy, was recently the subject of a Geographical Indication (GI) dispute in Singapore. An application was made to register Prosecco as a GI on 3 May 2019 in Singapore by Consorzio di Tutela della Denominazione di Origine Controllata Prosecco (Applicant). The Applicant is a consortium established under Italian law to coordinate and manage the Denomination of Controlled Origin (“DOC”). DOC is a certification shown on the label of reserved wines from Italy that meet specific production regulations. The GI was to include the territories of Belluno, Gorizia, Padova, Pordenone, Treviso, Trieste, Udine, Venice and Vicenza, located in the North East region of Italy.
In the simplest of terms, “fair use” refers to the defence against any claim of copying of a copyrighted or trademarked material for a limited and “transformative” purposes, such as to comment upon, to criticize, or for parody purposes.
