Malaysia is taking advantage of the Biotechnology Industry Organisation (BIO)'s annual convention here to rebrand itself as the new hotbed for biotechnology activities, said Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Seri Dr Jamaludin Jarjis on Saturday.

Jamaludin, who is leading Malaysia's delegation of over 100 members to BIO 2005, said the crux of the rebranding is to present Malaysia's biotechnology agenda following the unveiling of the National Biotechnology Policy (NBP) by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in April.

An Intellectual Property (IP) court to handle cases of infringement could be set up within the next two years.

The Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry is lobbying hard for this, Minister Datuk Shafie Apdal said. "The court will have judges and lawyers who specialise in IP so that the rights of owners can be properly represented," he said after his ministry's annual meeting with the private sector here yesterday.

The period for registration of intellectual property will be reduced by 10 months to 48 months by the end of this year, Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Mohd Shafie Apdal said Friday.

He said this would be achieved by beefing up the number of experienced inspectors from 42 to 100, and using external expertise, such as from Sirim.

In Malaysia and most parts of the world, textile designs are protected as Industrial Designs. Therefore, textile designs are valuable intellectual property.

Our First Lady, Datin Paduka Seri Endon Mahmood adopted the promotion of batik as her pet project ever since her husband took office.

This aggressive marketing of Malaysian batik worldwide is starting to worry Indonesia. A recent article published in The Jakarta Post stated the following:

Indonesian batik... has to compete with its Malaysian counterpart.

Malaysia has been actively promoting batik as a textile trademark at a variety of international fashion events. Fully supported by their government, Malaysian batik producers and designers freely and easily display and market their products.

They also try hard to patent every batik motif, many adapted from Indonesian patterns.

To make matters worse, many Indonesian batik makers are now working in Malaysian batik workshops, while, at the same time, a large number of batik factories in West, Central and East Java are now on the brink of bankruptcy because of a lack of capital, human resources and managerial and marketing skills.

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This is further evidence that proper government support can springboard a nation's Intellectual Property into the global arena. If Malaysia is to be a serious contender in the global IP arena, there needs to be concerted effort between the public and private sector to promote our own unique IP creations.