Rafidah: US investors adequately protected
Business Times (Malaysia)
Rafidah: US investors adequately protected
By Hamisah Hamid
July 21 2006
MALAYSIA’S commitment to intellectual property (IP) protection will help its negotiation on free trade agreement (FTA) with the US, International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz said.
Rafidah said Malaysia’s existing regulations on IP protection provide adequate protection for US investors and would encourage them to come to Malaysia.
She said the World Economic Forum 2005-2006 ranked Malaysia 20th among 117 countries in IP protection, ahead of China (61), India (41), Taiwan (26), Thailand (37) and South Korea (27).
"IP is going to be part and parcel of any bilateral arrangement for the future between any countries because people invest not to make a simple product but to produce products that have a very high element of innovation, creativity and design in it," she told reporters after officiating a seminar on "Maximising Intellectual Property as Business Asset" in Petaling Jaya yesterday.
The one-day seminar was organised by International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Malaysia.
The US, which is now in the second round of FTA negotiation with Malaysia, places great emphasis on IP rights. It has been estimated that US businesses suffer about US$250 billion (RM920 billion) losses annually due to piracy and theft.
Legislation in Malaysia that seeks to protect IP interest includes Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia Act 2002, Trade Marks Act 1976, Patents Act 1983, Copyright Act 1987, Industrial Design Act 1996, Layout Designs and Integrated Circuit Act 2000, Geographical Indications Act 2000, and Optical Disc Act 2000.
Earlier in her address, Rafidah said Malaysia is also committed to its multilateral obligations under the World Trade Organisation, World Intellectual Property Organisation and related IP international conventions, where Malaysia is a party to the Paris and Berne Conventions.
As a member of WTO, she said, Malaysia is signatory to the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement (Trips), the most comprehensive multilateral agreement on IP.
