LETTERS: The issue of trademark infringement recently received attention when business owner Khairul Amin, who owns the Sambal Nyet trademark, sent a letter of demand to the founder of Sambal Nyet Khairi.
The awareness among Malaysians about intellectual property rights and the importance of registering their trademarks has risen due to the widespread use of social media.
Basic information is accessible on the Malaysia Intellectual Property Corporation's website.
Khairul Amin, also known as Khairul Aming, had registered the trademark for his Sambal Nyet in 2021, while the rival company had also branded its business as Sambal Nyet Khairi.
The latter sambal is sold in identical packaging and this caused confusion among some consumers, who ended up buying Sambal Nyet Khairi, thinking that both sambal were the same.
There has been a number of cases in relation to imitating or copying in the food industry.
In Munchy Food Industries Sdn Bhd v Huasin Food Industries Sdn Bhd [2022] 1 MLJ 377, Munchy Food, as the owner of the LEXUS mark
for Lexus biscuits, sued the LEX biscuits' owner for trademark infringement.
The suit revolved around Huasin Food using the trademark LEX for its biscuits and cream sandwich, which was deceptively similar to the LEXUS trademark.
The argument was made under Section 38(1)(a) of the Trade Marks Act 1976.
In Syarikat Faiza v Faiz Rice [2019] 7 MLJ 175, the court decided that a visual comparison showed striking objective similarities between Beras Mughal Faiza Basmathi packaging and Beras Moghul Faiza Basmathi packaging, which gave rise to the presumption of a copying act.
In both of these cases, the act of deception and confusion was the basis for the courts' decisions.
Coming back to the sambal issue, Khairul Aming's letter of demand focused on trademark infringement.
DR SUZI FADHILAH ISMAIL
Associate professor of law,
Ahmad Ibrahim Kulliyyah of Laws,
International Islamic University Malaysia
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times