Ex-NSC DG confirms no effort taken to register 'tiger stripes' - MALAY MAIL

Haresh Deol

Thursday, May 26th, 2011 11:10:00

 

KUALA LUMPUR: Former National Sports Council (NSC) director-general Datuk Dr Ramlan Aziz has revealed the council had never undertaken any action to register the tiger stripes national jersey before it was launched in 2005.

“No… none (efforts) were taken at that time (to register the design),” he said at a media conference yesterday.

“The matter (to register) was raised to protect the rights to intellectual property or design but the management felt since everybody should be using it, there was no need for protection.


“If anyone wants to follow the design, it should be the exact design and colour code.”

He said a nationwide contest was held in 2005 to design a uniformed theme for national athletes. The winning design was later tweaked by Tan Sri Lim Kok Wing, and then deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak launched the jersey in the same year.

Ramlan helmed NSC from Aug 14, 2005, to April 25, 2007. He is currently the National Sports Institute (NSI) director-general.

NSC director-general Datuk Zolkples Embong, who was at the same press conference, left the room abruptly saying he had another “function to attend”.

Mesuma Sports lawyer Gary Lim had told The Malay Mail that to qualify for registration under the Industrial Designs Act 1996, a design must be novel or new.

The ownership of the design of the three tiger stripes seen on the national jersey is in dispute. NSC claims it registered the design under the Industrial Designs Act through CR Sports in 2009.

NSC then went into an agreement with Telekom Malaysia to launch the Team Malaysia Panthera jersey on April 28 this year. Present to launch the jersey was Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek.

Telekom Malaysia filed eight applications to register designs consisting of its corporate logo and incorporating the tiger stripes on the words Team Malaysia on April 6. CR Sports filed six applications on May 3 – five days after the Team Malaysia Panthera jersey was launched – to trademark the three stripes.

Mesuma Sports has been registered as the proprietor of the trademark for 10 years from July 9, 2009 to July 9, 2019.

The firm has declared that unless the interested parties were prepared to mediate, resolution in the courts was inevitable.



MALAY MAIL