Entry 15

Last few days, if I am not mistaken around last week, one of my close friends in FUU, Cat, ranted about her Converse sneakers. The sneakers happened to be a bit torn out and the logo went faded. Then I made a joke "now that the logo's gone, people might think that they aren't authentic hahahha kasut pasar malam" and both of us laughed. It got me wondering on what is the legal status of pirated goods. In example, for Cat's sneakers. I saw so many sneakers looking similar to those in the night market. A fan of shoes would notice the differences but I am not really particular on that. So, I tried to find if there were any cases that relates to "copying other people's works" and I found a case regarding a design for a ceiling fan. In Alpha Home Appliance Sdn Bhd v NSB Home Appliance ([2015] MLJU 1829) the Kuala Lumpur IP High Court determined that the defendants had infringed the plaintiff’s registered design for a ceiling fan. The essential feature of the registered design was a central motor housing of round shape. The defendants submitted that although their fan’s housing was round, it was also concave at the bottom. However, in the judge’s opinion, when viewing it from a slight distance, the concave bottom was neither noticeable nor distinctive enough to distinguish it from the plaintiff’s design. A counterclaim for revocation of the registration was rejected on the ground that the admitted evidence was insufficient to demonstrate a lack of novelty. 

source:https://www.worldtrademarkreview.com/portfolio-management/protecting-and-enforcing-design-rights-malaysia-0