1. Ministry mulls Intellectual Property Court

Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs plans to set up a special court to speed up disposal of back-logged intellectual property cases. Minister Datuk Shafie Apdal, said his ministry was studying the need to establish an Intellectual Property Court before a proposal is forwarded to the government.

We are studying its rational and needs as it is not easy to set up a court.

He told “If we find it helpful in eliminating piracy and production of imitation goods and if we see there are strong grounds for it to establish such a court, we will ask the government to set it up".

He also said intellectual property cases were on the rise. Since 1999, there were 236 pending cases under the Copyrights Act 1987 which were yet to be settled.

"The industry has asked us to consider setting up the court due to the rising number of cases," he said.
This article was published in August 17, 2004 in Utusan Malaysia newspaper.

2. Government serious about taking action against counterfeiting

The Malaysian government will take serious action against counterfeiting as it could sabotage the economy, said Deputy Minister of Internal Security Chia Kwang Chye.

"A lot of countries have taken preventive measures to ensure the economy is not sabotaged.

No government could afford to bear the consequences of such crime (counterfeiting)," he told reporters after officiating the International Federation of Spirits Producers (IFSP) Dialogue 2004 here Tuesday.

The IFSP (originally formed in 1993 as the Anti-Counterfeit Association (Worldwide)) is an association of major companies involved in the production and marketing of alcoholic spirits throughout the world.

Its sole purpose is to cooperate in combating the counterfeiting of its members products wherever it occurs in the world. He said that, recently, the government took action to combat counterfeiting as well as enforcement of intellectual property rights.

"Globalization and the shared borders among countries would result in our country being flooded with massive amounts of counterfeit products which are of low quality that present a danger to our people.

As example, he cited the counterfeiting of pharmaceutical drugs as common as paracetamol, commonly known in Malaysia as “Panadol”.

He said the availability of such drugs presented, both, social and health risks, to society that threatens the vibrant development of the people especially the young. The half-day dialogue was attended by 45 participants representing various government agencies and the United States, British and French embassies.

This article was published in September 14, 2004 in Utusan Malaysia newspaper.