The Bar Council's International Malaysia Law Conference 2016 ("IMLC 2016") was held at The Royale Chulan Kuala Lumpur from 21 to 23 Sept 2016.
By Khaizan Sharizad Abd Razak
The session on social media at the International Malaysia Law Conference 2016 was sponsored by Shearn Delamore & Co.
Praveen Rajan, Chief Digital Officer of Digi.com Berhad shared what the company is currently doing in using social media to support the business that it runs, as it serves 12 million customers and is a part of the Telenor group. As a business entity, it has changed the way it markets its services, by using social media. It has categorised three major components of social media usage: curated content and trending stories/pop culture, event sponsorships/testimonials and crowdsourcing, and brand information. Among the biggest challenges it faces are how to maintain interactivity between the brand and customers, and the brand being used without any agreement. In essence, the company has placed certain safeguards where there is a need to find a balance between the commercial entity and users.
Indran Shanmuganathan, a partner from Shearn Delamore & Co, started off his segnment by explaining how times have changed and how social media dictates the tone of how we now lead our lives. He then expounded on intellectual property rights, which include copyrights, trademarks, patents, confidential information, goodwill and industrial designs. Mr Shanmuganathan elaborated on the use of social media in the context of intellectual property rights, and how social media presents potential legal issues. For example, downloading films from the Internet or streaming films poses concerns of copyright infringement. In Malaysia, we have Section 43H of the Copyright Act 1987 to deal with copyright infringement. Social media can also give rise to trademark infringement issues such as selling counterfeit items online and comparative advertising. He talked about the passing–off requirement and the issues involved, such as brandjacking, false impersonation and false endorsement. Mr Shanmuganathan ended his presentation by saying that we cannot run away from social media, and therefore the usage of social media “must be regulated to ensure we do not weep”.
The Honourable Justice Tan Sri Datuk Ramly Hj Ali, Judge of the Federal Court of Malaysia was unable to attend and present for the session. His written speech was read by the moderator, Michelle CY Loi of Shearn Delamore & Co. Entitled “Cross–Border Theft and Social Media: An Intellectual Property Perspective”, it addressed how intellectual property rights are created by law that protects the creations, and detailed the various categories of intellectual property rights and statutes regulating them. Besides statutory provisions incorporated by the Government, these rights are also strengthened by way of bilateral or multilateral treaties. He also presented the various intellectual property rights infringements due to the “global shopping mall” via the Internet and the dangers to users. His speech concluded by saying that the continuously evolving social media can give rise to problems, and the rationalisation of laws is meaningless without constant surveillance of the market.
This session was sponsored by Shearn Delamore & Co.
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