Anti-counterfeiting taskforce launches campaign

An anti-counterfeiting taskforce of the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs has invited intellectual property (IP) rights owners to meet the minister at the end of this month to kick start its 2004 campaign. The ministry hopes that IP rights owners will find this dialogue session a useful forum to voice their grievances and set out proposals to fight counterfeiting.

The second aspect of the anti-counterfeiting campaign is to compile a database of the most commonly counterfeited trademarks. The database will also comprise the details of the legal representatives of the mark owners. This will enable the ministry to approach the relevant law firms with the particulars of goods seized on suspicion of counterfeiting to request assistance in verifying the goods' origin.

The ministry hopes that this taskforce will prove as successful as the copyright taskforce it established in April 1999.

Karen Abraham and Janet Toh Yoong San, Shearn Delamore & Co, Kuala Lumpur