Madrid Protocol – Your Gateway to Global Brand Protection

On 27 December 2019, the Madrid Protocol came into force in Malaysia. And with it, protecting your brand globally is just a single application away. Through the System, with a single application you can protect your trademark in up to 122 countries.

Prior to Malaysia's entry into the Madrid Union, the only way for local businesses to protect their trademarks overseas would be to file an application in each of their target country through a local IP practitioner--a tedious and oftentimes costly affair. Whereas with a Madrid application, once you've filed your application at the IP Office in Malaysia, it will be sent to the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) who will then send your application to the local IP offices of all the countries you've selected, cutting out the middle man (so to speak).

So, aside from saving you cost and time, what other goodies does the Madrid Protocol bring? In some jurisdictions, a Madrid application may move along faster than a national application as the member state must complete examinations within 18 months. Changes in ownership, address, etc. can be recorded more easily as you'll only need to record the changes with WIPO who will then transmit the changes to the local IP offices.

However, there are some downsides to Madrid too. Firstly, although the Madrid system covers most major markets, there are a few who are left out (e.g. Hong Kong, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, UAE, Taiwan etc.). Secondly, although it opens up the world to Malaysian businesses, it also opens up Malaysia to the world. For a foreign company with hegemonic intentions, or worse, a trademark squatter (an extortionist who registers trademarks just to sell them back to the owners), your precious trademark is now just a tick box away. Also, Madrid applications have a dependency period of 5 years, where the international registration will collapse if the home application/registration is cancelled or abandoned (in what's known as a Central Attack).

To find out more about how you can utilise the Madrid Protocol as part of your international trademark protection strategy or whether Madrid is right for you, please give us a holler.

#InternationalTrademark #branding

Part Of The Solution, Not The Problem!

For many people, 2019 has been a real tough one. The descent of the Khaleesi into genocidal madness coupled with her eventual demise at the hands of her nephew cum lover (he really does know nothing); the untimely death of our beloved genius, billionaire, playboy philanthropist; the realisation that many of our favourite celebrities from the 90s turned out to be either sex crazed maniacs, fraudulent weirdos or maniacal sex-crazed fraudulent weirdos. We've witnessed far too many cold-blooded massacres in schools, places of worships, places we were supposed to feel safe in. We saw cities, forests, jungles on fire, lit by our indifference and fueled by our bigotry.

For us, 2019 has been really challenging too. The ongoing trade-war between the two largest economies, the instability caused by the Brexit kerfuffle and the devaluation of the Ringgit chipped away at our revenue. The slowdown of the market affected our collection and liquidity. Even some of our Startup clients have been forced to call it a day. All in all, it sounds like 2019 has been a damp lump of coal! You might very well think that, but we couldn't possibly agree!

You see, for all its doom and gloom, 2019 is just like any other year. Sure, there are untold catastrophes and calamities (and yes, most of them are man-made), but amidst the ashes and detritus of these disasters, we often see humanity at its best. We see glimmers of hope. This year, we saw a teenager standing in UN, calling out world leaders for their inaction towards safeguarding our planet's future. We saw the Kiwis standing together, after a heinous act of terror, to reform their gun laws in order to prevent the same from happening again. In Australia, a 14-week pregnant volunteer firefighter stayed to battle the raging bush fire in her neighbourhood. The Ethiopians planted a world record 353 million trees in 12 hours!

We've seen our fair share of ups in 2019 too! While revenue has dropped, our profit has remained largely the same due to increased efficiency. We have further decreased our carbon footprint by moving into an office space with a Gold GBI Rating and becoming almost entirely paperless. Our patent team has been bolstered by the arrival of Sew Yeng and Joel. Our entrepreneurship project with the Chin refugee ladies (Lametna Project) has made a healthy 5 figure sum in the first year. Our Startup Assistance and pro-bono work has helped around 20 local start-ups, social enterprises and non-profits.

Looking forward, we will continue to increase the social impact of our business as we’ve always believed that an improved eco-system (in nature, society or the business environment) is beneficial to everyone. We will continue to assist local start-ups through our Start-up Assistance. We will also continue to help those who help others by offering pro-bono services to charitable organisations and non-profits. Additionally, we will be introducing a new SAHEBAT initiative aimed at helping local social enterprises to collaborate with each other as well as connecting them to corporate businesses. Next year, we will also begin the process of being accredited as a social enterprise by Malaysian Global Innovation & Creativity Centre.

We know 2020 will bring with it more challenges but we are adamant that we will be part of the solution and not part of the problem. After all, we are here to help!

Happy New Year everyone!

Decking the hall with Tom and Jerry? You better watch out!

Ah Christmas! The season of self administered force-feeding, countless wallet burning sales and massive competitions between shopping malls to see who can out-wow each other with their seasonal decorations.

Not wanting to miss out on spreading some festive cheer, the owner of a serviced apartment building in Penang recently decided to duke it out with the malls by decking out the front of its building with Christmas decorations which included two large figures of Tom and Jerry.

However, what would have been a place of pilgrimage for the selfie magi quickly became a cautionary tale of Dickensian proportion. For out of the bitter cold came the representatives of Warner Bros. (owner of Tom and Jerry) and their sternly worded Cease and Desist. And just like that, the famous cat and mouse duo was taken down, faster than you can say 'Hickory Dickory Dock'.

So does this mean you really cannot add some pizzazz to your mamak by putting up some Norwich football club memorabilia, or place life-sized cardboard figures of Anna and Elsa before locking the office AC at subzero temperatures and making off with the remote controller?

Well generally, personal use of copyrighted works is not considered to be infringing especially if they are licensed merchandise. So yes, the signed poster of the Hoff in his budgie smuggler can stay on your living room wall (whether it should is another matter all together). What can get you into trouble is if you nick said poster off www.carpetchestedhunks.com and post it all over your kopitiam in order to attract more auntie clienteles. Yes, even if you’re not charging the ladies (or gentlemen) RM 10 per selfie!

Now, if you're not too sure about the legality of that BTS shrine in your place of business, here are a few question to ask yourself. Are the merch legit and not from some dodgy pasar malam uncle? If your answer is yes, then good for you! You've just earned yourself some Santa brownie points. But wait! We're not in the clear just yet. Second question. Does the use of these licensed merchandise make it look like your business is endorsed by the celebrities when in actual fact BTS has nothing to do with your teh-tarik jantan? If the answer is also 'yes', then you're likely to still get a lump of coal from Santa and a Cease and Desist from the lawyers.

Still unsure? Why don't you give us a holler? Our Santa's little helpers will be more than happy to tell you if you've been naughty or nice.

#infringement #copyright