KASS | IP Experts

Intellectual Property

Wherefore Art Thou Spider-Man?

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By Hoh Jerick

Tensions rose, jaws floored – will Spider-Man no longer be part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) after the sequel “Far From Home”? The recent uproar and disagreement between Sony Pictures and Disney hinged on the fact that fans of the MCU movie series may not be able to enjoy the portrayal of the web-slinger by actor Tom Holland any longer. The internet went awash with multiple articles and comments on what would happen to everyone’s favourite superhero, or what would become of the Marvel Universe. But regardless of the dispute, conglomerate giants Sony and Disney have currently managed to compromise on a deal where the web-slinger would continue its appearances within future MCU movies.

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Strategic Moves When Patenting in ASEAN

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The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN in short, is a group of 10 countries located in Southeast Asia, which are, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Established on 8 August 1967, the purpose of ASEAN was to promote the development of the Southeast Asian region into a peaceful and stable region with a strong economy and improved standards of living.

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Common Law Proprietorship: Is Evidence Territorially Restricted?

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By Amir Murshidi

The established principle of trademarks is that the protection is territorial in nature. Does that mean without a registration, trademark owners do not have rights in a particular country? Yes and no – yes in countries that adopt the “first-to-file” rule while in common law jurisdictions (Malaysia included), owners who use the trademark first in the country can still rely on unregistered rights. However, the latter requires substantial evidence to be adduced before the Court and could be slightly difficult to enforce.

What if there is no evidence of use locally? Will use of a trademark abroad constitute use in the particular country? Well, this depends on the relevant laws in each country.

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iInventedthat: Products (Co-)Invented by Steve Jobs

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By Joel Cheong

On 5 October 2011, the world lost a brilliant visionary and entrepreneur whose legacy includes a half-eaten piece of fruit, a computer animation studio whose mascot hates the letter ‘i’ with a passion, and prohibitively expensive consumer electronics products beginning with the letter ‘i’. Born on 24 February 1955, Steven Paul Jobs was a constantly hungry non-Malaysian who’s known as the other Steve from Apple who doesn’t really code or build a product.

In spite of the fact that he lacked the programming or engineering prowess of Wozniak, Gates, or Musk, he was nonetheless a prolific designer whose relentless demand for perfection resulted in a great number of iconic Apple products. It comes as no surprise, then, that there are hundreds of registered designs for products which he designed or co-designed. What’s less known is that he also contributed to the invention of many useful technologies that gave Apple products a leg up on the competition.

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Finally, we have M&M – Malaysia and Madrid!

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Malaysia recently became the 106th member of the Madrid System.

On 27 September 2019, the Government of Malaysia deposited its instrument of accession to the Madrid Protocol with WIPO’s Director General.

The date to watch out for is 27 December 2019 – that’s when the Protocol will enter into force for Malaysia.

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