LATEST NEWS

China’s Anti-Monopoly enforcement agencies named July 21, 2008
Commission cracks down on collecting societies July 21, 2008
eBay not responsible for policing counterfeits, says US court July 21, 2008
European Commission’s IPR strategy focuses on SMEs July 21, 2008
Musicians welcome plan to extend copyright term in Europe July 21, 2008
Payless ordered to stop using American Eagle brand July 21, 2008
Reform dominates list of 50 most influential people July 21, 2008
Taiwan ends compulsory licensing dispute with Philips July 21, 2008

This article is FREE access as part of MIP Week, a weekly email newsletter written by the editors of Managing Intellectual Property magazine. Take a two week trial to MIP and find many more related articles.

IP owners tackle landlords in Malaysia

Peter Ollier, Hong Kong

The manager of shopping complex in Sarawak has been charged with allowing a tenant to sell pirated CDs in what is believed to be the first criminal landlord liability case in Malaysia

The manager of shopping complex in Sarawak has been charged with allowing a tenant to sell pirated CDs in what is believed to be the first criminal landlord liability case in Malaysia.

The Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs filed the case on April 24 following complaints from the Recording Industry of Malaysia.

The case had its second mention in the Sessions Court on Monday May 14. It is not expected to be heard for between 18 months and two years.

Bellwood Sdn Bhd, the company that owns Crown Square Shopping Centre in Kuching, was charged under section 41 of the Copyright Act and section 109 of the Penal Code. Bellwood manager William Ting represented the company and was released on bail.

Levels of optical piracy remain high in Malaysia, despite government attempts to tackle the problem. Last year, for example, the government forced 11 factories making pirated discs to relocate or close, a move welcomed by the US Trade Representative in its Special 301 Report.

The Recording Industry of Malaysia (RIM) says that efforts to target sellers of pirated discs often fail because tenants do not always have proper documentation and can be hard to prosecute.

Sharmila Sekarajasekaran, in-house counsel for RIM, told MIP Week that the organization had decided to target landlords because "if landlords realize that they could be charged then they will be more likely to crack down on tenants selling pirated CDs".

RIM has also launched five civil landlord liability lawsuits that are at pre-trial stages.

This month's MIP contains a Malaysia Focus which includes an article by Sharmila Sekarajasekaran outlining RIM's landlord liability strategy, along with a series of articles on IP issues in Malaysia.