Trademark
- Business Registration is a must for a new set up company or enterprise to enter the market. However, Trademark Registration is optional for a company to register their company’s name or brand name or any other own representatives such as symbol, logo, phrase, design, image, 3D or a combination.
- Business Registration will not give you any protection to the name you are using. As long as your company is not having the name same with the existing business, then you will be allowed to register. However, Trademark Registration gives you the legal protection to the name or logo you registered. After registration, people are not allowed to use and register the name or logo which is same or similar to the existing trademark owner. Once you are using it, the owner of the name or logo will have the right to sue you for infringement.
- Common Word is being regarded as the word which can be found in the dictionary. Common Word is not allowed for trademark registration. For example, the word ‘CREATIVE’ can be found in the dictionary with the meaning of ‘able to create’. Thus, this word is not allowed to register since everyone can use it.
- The period of protection varies, but a Trademark can be renewed indefinitely on payment of additional fees.
- An application for registration of a Trademark must be filed with the appropriate national or regional trademark office. The application must contain a clear reproduction of the sign filed for registration, including any colors, forms, or three-dimensional features. The application must also contain a list of goods or services to which the sign would apply. The sign must fulfill certain conditions in order to be protected as a Trademark or other type of mark. It must be distinctive, so that consumers can distinguish it as identifying a particular product, as well as from other trademarks identifying other products. It must neither mislead nor deceive customers or violate public order or morality.
- In Malaysia, each application must be for single mark in a single class. The application can include several goods or services all falling within the same international class without the payment of any additional fees.
- During application, if there are any queries for the application, letter from the authority party will be received and the application proceeds after the applicant reply the letter.
- If the mark applied for is acceptable to the Trademark Office, it is advertised in theGovernment Gazette for any member of the public to oppose the application. A period of 2 months is given for the filing of any opposition. If no opposition is received, the work proceeds to registration.
- If the application does not face any objections or oppositions, the trademark will be registered within two years.
- Yes, you are able to stop others from registering your Trademark if you had the evidence to do so. When you discovered that others are registering your Trademark or registering the Trademark which is similar to yours, you may within a period of 2 months of advertising Government Gazette filing a letter of opposition to stop the registration. It is recommended for the opposition to be done within the 2 months filing period. This is because the opposition after the registration is difficult to be done.
- No. If you only registered your Trademark in Malaysia, you will not get the same protection in other countries. However, if you need the protection from other countries, then you may register your trademark in that particular country.
Patent
- No. Patent right will not only being granted to new invention, but it will also be granted to the new process or improvement done on the existing product. For example, the new planting technique or the new function of a chair can also be registered patent. However, certain rules and regulations for patent registration should be followed.
- In order to get a Patent, your idea has to meet four basic requirements:
- Your idea must be subject matter that Congress has defined to be Patentable.
- Machines, processes / methods, and compositions of matter are examples of patentable subject matter. Algorithms and laws of nature (e.g. E=mc2) are examples of subject matter that cannot be patented.
- Your idea must be new.
- Your idea must be useful.
- Your idea must be non-obvious.
- The Patent Owner may have the exclusive right over the invention he/she registered. He/she has the right to decide who may – or may not – use the patented invention for the period in which the invention is protected. The Patent Owner may give permission to, or license, other parties to use the invention on mutually agreed terms. The owner may also sell the right to the invention to someone else, who will then become the new owner of the patent.
- A Patent is a limited monopoly granted by the government to inventors in exchange for public disclosure of how to make and use their invention. However, trade secret is anything tangible or intangible or electronically kept or stored, which includes secret scientific, technical, merchandising, production or management information, design, process, procedure, formula, invention or improvement.
- Patent only protect invention but trade secret protects anything which the owner do not want their competitors to have knowledge on it. The patent invention must be new, useful and not obvious to the expertise in the same or related industry but the trade secret must be kept secret from others.
- The protection for Patent will last mostly 20 years from the date of filing but trade secret protection is indefinitely, as long as others do not have knowledge of it.
Industrial Design
- In most countries, an Industrial Design must be registered in order to be protected under industrial design law. As a general rule, to be registrable, the design must be “new” or “original”. Different countries have varying definitions of such terms, as well as variations in the registration process itself. Generally, “new” means that no identical or very similar design is known to have existed before.
- The owner shall have the exclusive right to make, or import for sale or hire, or for use for the purposes of any trade or business, either sell, hire or to offer, or expose for sale or hire any article to which the registered design has been applied.
- Besides, the owner of the registered design shall have the right to take legal action against the person who infringes their registered design.
- The term of protection is generally five years, with the possibility of further periods of renewal up to, 15 years in most cases.
Copyright
- The original creators of works protected by Copyright, and their heirs, have certain basic rights. They hold the exclusive right to use or authorize others to use the work on agreed terms. The creator of a work can prohibit or authorize:
- Its reproduction in various forms, such as printed publication or sound recording;
- Its public performance, as in a play or musical work;
- Recordings of it, for example, in the form of compact discs, cassettes or videotapes;
- Its broadcasting, by radio, cable or satellite;
- Its translation into other languages, or its adaptation, such as a novel into a screenplay
- Your work is under Copyright Protection the moment it is created and fixed in a tangible form that it is perceptible either directly or with the aid of a machine or device. The Copyright Registration is not a must since the protection arises the moment it is created.
- Registration is recommended for a number of reasons. Many choose to register their works because they wish to have the facts of their Copyright on the public record and have a certificate of registration. Registered works may be eligible for statutory damages and attorney’s fees in successful litigation. Registration can also serve as prima facie evidence in a court of law with reference to disputes relating to Copyright.
- Yes, there is a time limit for this protection. In general, the protection will last 50 years after the author’s death.