MyIPO approves 70 pct of IP applications from Sarawak, says state director

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Vincent (sixth right) with the winners of the state-level innovation competition at Sarawak MyIPO headquarters in Kuching. — Photo by Jeffery Mostapa

Vincent (sixth right) with the winners of the state-level innovation competition at Sarawak MyIPO headquarters in Kuching. — Photo by Jeffery Mostapa

KUCHING: The Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO) has approved 70 per cent out of the 1,600 applications for Intellectual Property (IP) from Sarawak submitted between 2011 and last year.

State MyIPO director Vincent Lejau disclosed that a bulk of the IP applications from the state was submitted by entrepreneurs or innovators wanting to trademark their product or services.

“When applicants have successfully obtained the ‘Registered’ (®) symbol next to their logo, their products or services would be given a legal and exclusive protection,” he told reporters prior to the presentation of awards to winners of the Intellectual Property Inventors (Sarawak Zone) 2016 competition here yesterday.

Vincent also said to obtain the ® symbol, an applicant would need to pay a filing fee of RM370 (RM330 via online), and RM650 (RM600 online) for a 10-year registration.

Other major applicants from Sarawak also came from those wanting to obtain patents for their products, as well as those applying for a ‘Geographical Indications’ on their product as the means to identify that a product was unique to a certain area.

Local products being granted Geographical Indications include ‘Durian Ukak Sibuti’, ‘Midin Sarawak’, ‘Timun Sarawak’ and ‘Buah Terap Sibuti’.

Other components of the IP are the ‘Trademark’ (™), Industrial Designs, Layout Design of Integrated Circuits and Copyrights (©).

On another note, Vincent also revealed that the key reasons why the remaining 30 per cent applicants from Sarawak failed in their registration for IP was late payment for registration or attaching inaccurate technical information of their product as opposed to that registered on the official MyIPO forms.

Meanwhile, Politeknik Kuching Sarawak won the gold award at the Intellectual Property Inventors (Sarawak Zone) competition with their innovation called ‘Use of Ployethylene (Mineral Bottles) in Bitumen’, beating seven other teams from several polytechnic and vocational institutions.

The Politeknik Kuching trio of Virender Singh Jit Singh, Amanda Marie Rogers and Jamie Muhan worked together under the supervision of their technical training officer Munirah Dawi Saifuddin.

“This is a great idea which can save a lot, in terms of budget, as it provides an option of not using gravel for bitumen,” said Vincent, admitting that the judges found it very hard to pick the winning team, which would represent the state at the national-level competition sometime in August this year.

The Politeknik Kuching team walked away with RM600, a trophy and medals.

The silver award went to Miri Industrial Training Institute (ILP) with their entry – the ‘Power Air-Conditioning (Powac)’ – earning them RM500. The bronze award was given to another team from Politeknik Kuching Sarawak, who came up with a tri-colour ink made from used cooking oil and extracted plant pigment.

For this feat, they bagged RM400.

The consolation prizes went to five other teams; four of which are from Politeknik Kuching Sarawak with their respective innovations – ‘Two-in-One Rubber Roller Machine’, ‘Teal Plastic’, ‘EZ Pump’ and ‘Smart-BLI’. The fifth team was from Miri ILP, with their product called ‘AFEED’.