Week 13
Week 13
PROFESIONAL ENGINEER
Lecture W 13 – Law for Engineers
by
Ir. Ts. Dr. HAFIZI BIN ZAKARIA
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Definition
Types of IP in Malaysia
Understanding IP
The Laws for IP Protection
• Copyright Act 1987
• Trademarks Act 1976
• Patent Act 1983
• Industrial Design Act 1996
• Geographical Indications Act 2000
• Law of Tort
• -passing-off
• Confidential information
PATENT
Patent – cont’d
• The Patents Act 1983 and the Patents Regulations
1996 govern patent protection in Malaysia. An
applicant may file a patent application directly if he is
domicile or resident in Malaysia. A foreign application
can only be filed through a registered patent agent in
Malaysia acting on behalf of the applicant.
Patent – cont’d
• Similar to legislations in other countries, an invention
is patentable if it is new, involves an inventive step
and is industrially applicable. In accordance with
TRIPS, the Patent Act stipulates a protection period of
20 years from the date of filing of an application.
Under the Act, the utility innovation certificate
provides for an initial duration of ten years protection
from the date of filing of the application. The owner
of a patent has the right to exploit the patented
invention, to assign or transmit the patent, and to
conclude a licensed contract.
Patent – cont’d
• Issues of patent valuation and exploitation are
gaining in importance in the public and private
sectors and will benefit from continued exchanges
among stakeholders from business, government and
academia.
Patent – cont’d
• Efforts are needed to make the contribution of
patents to economic value more visible. As patents
are more frequently used as vehicles for transferring
information to markets, investors and customers seek
reliable and valid information regarding patent value
upon which to base decisions. Companies also need
reliable information in order to better manage their
patent portfolios.
Patent – cont’d
• A patent is an exclusive right granted for an invention,
which is a product or a process that provides a new
way of doing something, or offers a new technical
solution to a problem.
Patentable Inventions
• New, which means that the invention has not been
publicly disclosed in any form, anywhere in the
world;
2. A competent authority; or
3. Broadcasts
• For the copyright in broadcasts, it protection occurred in way of
transmission either by wire or wireless means, the period for 50 years
shall be computed from the which the broadcasts was first made.
The Rights of Copyright Owners
1. Legal Rights
• Author, copyright owner and performer is given an
exclusive right to control under the copyright law.
Legal rights that are given to them includes the rights
to enforce their copyrighted works in cases for
infringement either by civil or criminal action. In term
of criminal prosecution, it is conducted by the
Enforcement Division of Ministry of Domestic Trade,
Cooperative and Consumerism (MTDCC) or Royal
Malaysian Police.
The Rights of Copyright Owners – cont’d
2. Economic Rights
• Economic rights that are given to right holders
includes rights of reproduction, rights of
communication to public, rights to perform, showing
or playing to the public, rights of distribution and
rights of commercial rental. This rights can be
exercised during the period of protection governed
under Copyright Act 1987. Economic rights allows the
owner of rights to derive financial reward from the
use of his works by the user or commercial purposes.
Form of economic rights can be by way of
assignment, licensing and testamentary disposition.
The Rights of Copyright Owners – cont’d
3. Moral Rights
• Paternity Rights
o This rights allows the author to claim the
originality rights of his or her creation.
• Integrity Rights
o This right authorizes the author to prevent any
users from distortion, mutilation or other
modifications of his or her works whereby the
result of the modification will significantly alter
the original work and adversely affect the
author’s honor or reputation.
Copyright Infringements
• Whoever use any copyrighted works without consent or authorization from the
author, copyright owner and performer, it may constitute an infringement
under Copyright Act 1987. Amongst the act of infringement includes:
o reproduces in any material form, performs, shows or plays or distributes to
the public,
o imports any article into Malaysia for the purpose of trade or financial gains;
o makes for sale or rent any infringing copy;
o sells, rent or by way of trade, exposes or offers for sale or rent any
infringing copy;
o distributes infringing copies;
o possesses, otherwise than for his private and domestic use, any infringing
copy;
o exhibits in public any infringing copy by way of trade;
o makes or has in his possession any contrivance used or intended to be used
for the purpose of making infringing copies
Copyright Act 1987
Copyright: Ownership
Copyright: Ownership – cont’d
• If you buy a book in a shop, if you buy a CD in a shop, once you have
paid your money legal title to that particular object changes hands
— it becomes your book or your CD; your possession and the
private enjoyment of it is protected by law and guaranteed by the
state.
• Employer – employee
Employer Employee
• means any person who has • means any person or class
entered into a contract of of persons—
service to employ any other
person as an employee and • (a) included in any category
includes the agent, manager in the First Schedule
or factor of such first
mentioned person, and the • (b) in respect of whom the
word ―employ with its
Minister makes an order
grammatical variations and
cognate expressions, shall under subsection (3) or
be construed accordingly section 2A
OSHA 1994: Immediate Employer
• in relation to employees employed by or through him, means
a person who has undertaken the execution at the place of
work where the principal employer is carrying on his trade,
business, profession, vocation, occupation or calling, or under
the supervision of the principal employer or his agent, of the
whole or any part of any work which is ordinarily part of the
work of the trade, business, profession, vocation, occupation
or calling of the principal employer or is preliminary to the
work carried on in, or incidental to the purpose of, any such
trade, business, profession, vocation, occupation or calling,
and includes a person by whom the services of an employee
who has entered into a contract of service with him are
temporarily lent or let on hire to the principal employer
OSHA 1994: Immediate Employer – cont’d
• Example of an immediate employer in the private
sector includes labour contractors in the workplace.
In the public sector or statutory body, the head of
department may depending on the facts of each case
be considered as an immediate employer.
OSHA 1994: Principle Employer
• Means the owner of an industry or the person with whom
an employee has
• Entered into a contract of service and includes—
a) a manager, agent or person responsible for the
payment of salary or wages to an employee;
b) the occupier of a place of work;
c) the legal representative of a deceased owner or
occupier; and
d) any government in Malaysia, department of any such
government, local authority or statutory body
OSHA 1994: Principle Employer – cont’d
• Principal employer means the owner of an industry
or the person with whom an employee has entered
into a contract of service.
Employer Employee
• means any person who has • means any person or class
entered into a contract of of persons—
service to employ any other
person as an employee and • (a) included in any category
includes the agent, manager in the First Schedule
or factor of such first
mentioned person, and the • (b) in respect of whom the
word ―employ with its
Minister makes an order
grammatical variations and
cognate expressions, shall under subsection (3) or
be construed accordingly section 2A
EA 1955 - Employee: First Schedule
1. Any person, irrespective of his occupation, who has entered into a
contract of service with an employer under which such person’s
wages do not exceed two thousand ringgit a month.
2. Any person who, irrespective of the amount of wages he earns in a
month, has entered into a contract of service with an employer in
pursuance of which -
a. he is engaged in manual labour including such labour as an
artisan or apprentice:
b. he is engaged in the operation or maintenance of any
mechanically propelled vehicle operated for the transport of
passengers or goods or for reward or for commercial purposes
EA 1955 - Employee: First Schedule – cont’d
3. He supervises or oversees other employees engaged in manual
labour employed by the same employer in and throughout the
performance of their work
4. He is engaged in any capacity in any vessel registered in Malaysia
and who—
a. is not an officer certificated under the Merchant Shipping Acts
of the United Kingdom as amended from time to time;
b. is not the holder of a local certificate as defined in Part VII of
the Merchant Shipping Ordinance 1952 [F.M. 70/1952]; or
c. has not entered into an agreement under Part III of the
Merchant Shipping Ordinance 1952; or
5. He is engaged as a domestic servant.
EA 1955 – Employee: SS 2A
1. The Minister may by order prohibit the employment, engagement
or contracting of any person or class of persons to carry out work in
any occupation in any agricultural or industrial undertaking,
constructional work, statutory body, local government authority,
trade, business or place of work other than under a contract of
service entered into with—
a. the principal or owner of that agricultural or industrial
undertaking, constructional work, trade, business or place of
work; or
b. that statutory body or that authority.
he may specify but subject to such conditions as he may deem fit to
impose.
EA 1955 – Employee: SS 2A – cont’d
2. Upon the coming into force of any such order, the person or class of
persons employed, engaged or contracted with to carry out the
work shall be deemed to be an employee or employees and—
a. the principal or owner of the agricultural or industrial
undertaking, constructional work, trade, business or place of
work; or
b. the statutory body or local government authority,
shall be deemed to be the employer for the purposes of such
provisions of this Act and any other written law as may be specified in
the order.
EA 1955 – Employee: Subsection
(3) of SS 2
• The Minister may by order declare such provisions of this Act and
any other written law as may be specified in the order to be
applicable to any person or class of persons employed, engaged or
contracted with to carry out work in any occupation in any
agricultural or industrial undertaking, constructional work, statutory
body, local government authority, trade, business or place of work,
and upon the coming into force of any such order—
EA 1955 – Employee: Subsection
(3) of SS 2 – cont’d
a. any person or class of persons specified in the order shall be
deemed to be an employee or employees;
b. the person, statutory body or local government authority
employing, engaging or contracting with every such person or class
of persons shall be deemed to be an employer;
c. the employer and the employee shall be deemed to have entered
into a contract of service with one another;
d. the place where such employee carries on work for his employer
shall be deemed to be a place of employment; and
e. the remuneration of such employee shall be deemed to be wages,
for the purposes of such specified provisions of this Act and any other
written law.
OSHA 1994
• with the work of an industry to which this Act applies and—
a) who is directly employed by the principal employer on any work
of, or incidental or preliminary to or connected with the work of,
the industry, whether such work is done by the employee at the
place of work or elsewhere;
b) who is employed by or through an immediate employer at the
place of work of the industry or under the supervision of the
principal employer or his agent on work which is ordinarily part
of the work of the industry or which is preliminary to the work
carried on in or incidental to the purpose of the industry; or
c) whose services are temporarily lent or let on hire to the principal
employer by the person with whom the person whose services
are so lent or let on hire has entered into a contract of service;
OSHA 1994 – cont’d
• Employees are workers who are directly employed by the principal
employer or through an immediate employer at the place of work
or whose services are let on hire under a contract of service.
• The employer is generally not liable for the vicarious acts of independent
contractors.
• In general, protective legislation does not apply, except for certain Acts