The report of the Technical Expert Group on Patent Law Issues, led by RA Mashelkar, was resubmitted to the Union Ministry for Trade and Commerce in March 2009. It was first submitted in December 2006 and was withdrawn for review owing to some technical inaccuracies in the Report. Mashelkar and a team of technical members […]
Encouraging Innovations – The Policy of the Malaysian Government
Coming up with a great idea of invention often leaves researchers and inventors gleaming with joy. Implementation of the idea would mean vast monetary gain for some or recognition and a sense of achievement for others. In any case, having a great idea is one thing – putting it into an application, or rather having […]
Malaysia’s IP Laws To Be Revamped
Due to the recent debates over the rights of IP owners and public discontent, the Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO) has reviewed the Intellectual Property Laws of Malaysia and will soon be implementing amendments to resolve matters. The review and amendments will affect the Copyright Act, Trade Marks Act, Patents Act and Industrial Design […]
Singapore – on PPH with Japan and on ASPEC with ASEAN member states
Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) is a set of initiatives for providing accelerated patent prosecution procedures by sharing information between some patent offices. It permits each participating patent office to benefit from the work previously done by the other patent office, with the goal of reducing examination workload and improving patent quality.The patent office that receives […]
India - Government Use Of Patents Debated
A patent confers exclusivity upon the patentee to exploit an invention and to produce, sell or import the patented product or process for a limited period. However, there are some limitations to this exclusive right, such as research exemptions, providing some information to the authorities and the Bolar exception. The Indian Patents Act, 1970 incorporates […]
Striking a Balance – Malaysia looking ahead
Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) enforcement will always be about striking a balance between the rights of the Intellectual Property (IP) proprietor and the general public’s right to freely use and share available resources and innovations and improve on existing technologies and ideas. IP laws in Malaysia have been in conformance with International IP laws as […]
India - Patent Used To Block Drugs Shipment
Countries trying to tackle the menace of counterfeit drugs are taking various steps to check the entry of unauthorised drugs. However one problem arising from this is that counterfeit drugs are defined differently in various jurisdictions. Many countries consider products that are not registered there as being counterfeit. International trade means that medicines may reach […]
Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) programme between US and Singapore
An applicant which aims to protect his invention in multiple countries has to seek patent protection in each of the desired country. This means having his application searched and/or examined independently in each of the country. The timeline to obtain a patent differs in each country, which mostly depends on the speed of prosecution of […]
The time has come for Software Patents in Malaysia
Industries invest millions in developing computer-related systems every year. However, these systems do not seem to be given ample intellectual property protection. Computer programs enjoy copyright protection, but these will only protect them against copying. Patent protection, on the other hand, prevents competitors from copying, reverse engineering or independently inventing a system that embodies the […]
The Singapore Court Revokes Patent For Lack of Novelty And Inventive Step
In a recent patent infringement case in Singapore, the courts dealt with the issue of validity of the patent in suit. The case was between Muhlbauer AG (the plaintiff) and Manufacturing Integration Technology Ltd (the defendant). The plaintiff is a company incorporated in Germany. It is the registered proprietor of Singapore patent number 117982 entitled […]