Malaysia is the latest country to join the Creative Commons effort which enables creators to publish and share their works online.

 

"Creative Commons makes it easier to share creations across boundaries, time and space by the use of creative commons licences," said Dr Alina Ng, a senior executive with the Multimedia Development Corporation, which is initiating the project here.

 

A creative common on-line resource enables one to generate an individualised, legally enforceable copyright licence.

 

As of May this year, there are nearly 16 million digital objects accessible over the Internet linked to a Creative Commons licence, including scientific journal articles, music files, picture files and weblog pages.

Founded in 2001 by a group of cyberlaw and intellectual property experts, Creative Commons is now used in 20 countries and a further 11 are in the process of customising Creative Commons licences.

Malaysia is the latest country to join the creative commons effort. MDC hopes to launch Malaysia specific creative commons licences on the internet by the year's end.

 

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"We don't see them in their usual haunts," said RIM chief executive officer Tan Ngiap Foo.

 

Suspected music pirates could only be issued with summonses until the copyright law was amended in 2003 to give Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry officers the power of arrest.

 

Tan said 27 arrests were made over the past two months and this is having an impact on music piracy in the country.

 

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Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry enforcement officers have seized RM150,000 worth of equipment, computers and TV sets used for a paid digital karaoke service in Kuala Lumpur because of the use of pirated software.

The ministry's Intellectual Property Unit Director, Iskandar Halim Sulaiman, said the seizure was made under the "Ops Tulen Muzik II" raid by the enforcement team at about 1.10 p.m. Thursday at an entertainment business outlet at the Pertama Complex in Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman.

He said the outlet was believed to be carrying out its business of offering song request services for paid digital karaoke songs using pirated software, adding that unauthorised copying of digital data and songs was also prohibited.

 

The jukebox karaoke operator may face a whopping RM29 million in fines if he's found to have used unauthorised digital copies of karaoke recordings.

 

People have been paying RM1 per song over the past two months to sing to their heart's delight using pirated software.

 

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LOCAL software developers attempting to commercialise their software products should be more aware of their intellectual property (IP) rights and take the necessary steps to protect them.

 

Mindvault Sdn Bhd's director David Oh told CompuTimes that although the country has sufficient IP laws to protect software developers, there is still lack of awareness among software developers on the importance of protecting intellectual assets.

 

"The problem is not the local IP laws but the lack of awareness in the law. Hence, software developers must be better informed of the IP rights via seminars or by talking to IP specialists."

 

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We often hear that Malaysia needs to improve its enforcement of Intellectual Property (IP). Just recently, the US Ambassador to Malaysia made this call. So, what exactly does "better enforcement" entail?

 

For one, it requires more effective courts and by that I mean

Having specialised IP judges is another key component of better enforcement. IP can be a complex subject matter and the lack of IP judges results in slower court proceedings and sometimes questionable decisions. IP judges would also better appreciate the gravity of IP infringement and be more willing to apply the full penalties under the law to deter future infringers.

 

In this connection the establishment of an IP court in Malaysia will be welcomed and I hope that it will happen soon.

 

THE Ministry of Higher Education hopes more companies would commercialise research and development (R&D) products developed by university researchers, said its director-general Datuk Prof Dr Hassan Said.

"Previously, we used to be buyers of technologies. It is now timely for us to take the products out of the laboratory and into the market," he said.

 

Hassan said commercialisation of intellectual property (IP) from higher learning institutions and research institutions has been practised by advanced nations.

The future development of industries in Malaysia focuses on new high-growth sectors that are transforming into competitive and full-fledged skilled-based areas in biotechnology, information communication technology, advanced material and advanced manufacturing, the results of which would be the supply of goods and services to the global market.

 

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