{"id":3142,"date":"2021-06-28T19:49:33","date_gmt":"2021-06-28T11:49:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yhalaw.com.my\/?p=3142"},"modified":"2024-09-09T09:11:39","modified_gmt":"2024-09-09T01:11:39","slug":"tort-law-passing-off-unregistered-trade-mark-infringement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yhalaw.com.my\/my\/tort-law-passing-off-unregistered-trade-mark-infringement\/","title":{"rendered":"TORT LAW \u2013 PASSING OFF \u2013 UNREGISTERED \u2013 TRADE MARK \u2013 INFRINGEMENT"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><em>I have been selling my brand named \u2018Slimmy Slimmy\u2019 on social media but I never do trade mark registration. One day, I received messages on social media asking me whether certain goods with the label \u2018Slimmie Slimmie\u2019 were mine. Upon conducting trade mark search, I discovered that the brand had been registered. What can I do?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>You can sue them under the common law tort of passing off.<\/li>\n<li>Under the law of Trademarks Act 2019 and the Trademarks Regulations 2019, legal actions against trade mark infringement is available only when a registered mark is infringed.<\/li>\n<li>The registered proprietor of the mark has the right to initiate court proceedings against any person who has infringed or is infringing its mark.<\/li>\n<li><strong><u>HOWEVER<\/u><\/strong>, as for unregistered marks, the proprietor may sue the infringer for passing off its mark as that of the proprietor\u2019s.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><em>What should be proven by the proprietor?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>In order for a proprietor who did not register its mark to establish passing off, the proprietor must be able to prove that there was goodwill or reputation attached to the goods or services; misrepresentation; and damages.<\/li>\n<li>Furthermore, Malaysia practises the \u2018First-to-Use\u2019 principle, provided that these marks have attained goodwill and reputation in Malaysia.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><em>What \u2018First-to-Use\u2019 principle is?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>First use means the use of a trade mark prior to anyone else regardless of the extent of such use.<\/li>\n<li>The \u2018First-to-Use\u2019 principle establishes that trade mark rights accrue to the first business to use the mark in association with the sale of goods or services on the market.<\/li>\n<li>This principle acknowledges the right of the first user of a mark.<\/li>\n<li>Other countries such as the United Kingdom recognises \u2018First-to-File\u2019 principle (the first person to register a brand obtains the rights).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>&nbsp;<\/strong><strong><em>Our Comments<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Tort of passing off is more difficult to prove and can be expensive.<\/li>\n<li>Thus, protection via registration would always be recommended in order to protect your intellectual property right.<\/li>\n<li>Registration is the way to go but the Malaysian trade mark system does take into account of common law rights that accrue from use of an unregistered mark.<\/li>\n<\/ul>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Protection for unregistered trade marks infringement.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":3165,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2107,1561],"tags":[1543,2114,1562,2115],"class_list":["post-3142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-infringement","category-tort","tag-infringement","tag-passing-off","tag-tort","tag-trade-mark"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>TORT LAW \u2013 PASSING OFF \u2013 UNREGISTERED \u2013 TRADE MARK \u2013 INFRINGEMENT | Yew Huoi, How &amp; 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