Muhyiddin urges inventors to file patents early

Inventors and owners of intellectual property should file their patents early to protect their exclusive rights to a product.

Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who said this, also urged patent owners to seek worldwide exclusive rights to their inventions.

“This is to prevent anyone from claiming the rights to intellectual property owned by the locals,” he told reporters after presenting awards at the National Intellectual Property Award 2010 yesterday.

He said patent registration could be filed through the Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO), which provides worldwide patent coverage.

Earlier in his speech, Muhyiddin said the people, especially small and medium entrepreneurs, should fully utilise the country’s intellectual property potential in order to be competitive and innovative as well as to enhance market access.

Muhyiddin said Malaysia planned to reduce the patent registration period even further, from 39 months this year to 36 months in 2011 and 32 months by 2012.

Later at the National Chamber of Commerce and Industry forum on China-Malaysia economic and business relations, the Deputy Prime Minister said China’s rapid development and movement to high-level technology meant that Asean countries must move to add value to their products through research. He also told local corporations not to make too much demands to be shielded from competition from China.

“I want to emphasise that protectionism is not the answer. We have seen time and again that industries that do not adjust and adapt to new business realities end up in a never-ending cycle of dependency,” he said. -the Star