Monday, October 23, 2017

Malaysia, Japan in cooperation to strengthen intellectual property protection

Malaysia will work with Japan to strengthen its local intellectual property (IP) protection mechanism.

Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin said the move included cooperation with Todai Technology Licensing Office Ltd (Todai TLO), a Tokyo University subsidiary, in terms of providing commercial value assessment.

“The initiative will benefit IP owners, and add value as well as enable local IPs to be more widely promoted. The ministry will see how it could find valuers to assess the IPs in our country.

“It will make it easier for them to borrow from a financial institution and prove that their IPs have vast commercial value,” he told Malaysian media after visiting the Japanese Consumers’ Cooperative Union (JCCU) here today.

Aside from TLO and JCCU, Hamzah, who is on a three-day working visit here, also dropped by at Japan Patent Office (JPO) to study how the country, renowned for its innovation, manages and commercialises its intellectual properties.

He noted that the analysis conducted by JPO found that companies which had registered their intellectual properties were able to make more profit compared with those who did not.

Hence, he said, local producers, particularly small and medium enterprises (SMEs) should be aware of the advantage of registering and securing patents for their products and services.

The minister disclosed that he had also directed the Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO) to hold further discussions with JPO and Todai. — Bernama

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