Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Notes on trademark registration in Malaysia

A trademark is an important thing commonly used for branding and identity. It need to be legally registered in order to prohibit infridgement or unauthorized use of it. Although it is normally registered by business organization, individuals (such as freelancers) can also register trademark for their products and/or services.

Here are some guidelines to follow, according to the Trade Marks Act 1976 if Malaysia. By following the guidelines below, it will probably save you time, effort and cost in case you are trying to register your own trademark.

In order to be accepted for registration, a trade mark need to contain or consist of at least one of the following particulars:
  • The name of an individual, company or firm represented in a special or particular manner.
  • The signature of the applicant for registration or of some predecessor in his business.
  • An invented word or words.
  • A word having no direct reference to the character or quality of the goods or services not being, according to its ordinary meaning, a geographical name or surname.
  • A distinctive mark. It must be capable of distinguishing goods or services with which the proprietor of the trade mark is or may be connected in the course of trade from goods or services.
A trade mark is prohibited:
  • If the use of which is likely to deceive or cause confusionto the public or would be contrary to law.
  • If it contains or comprises any scandalous or offensive matter or would otherwise not be entitled to protection by any court of law.
  • If it contains a matter which in the opinion of the Registrar is or might be prejudicial to the interest or security of the nation.
  • If it is identical with or so nearly resembles a mark which is well known in Malaysia for the same goods or services of another proprietor.
  • If it is well known and registered in Malaysia for goods or services not the same as to those in respect of which registration is applied for: Provided that the use of the mark in relation to those goods or services would indicate a connection between those goods or services and the proprietor of the well known mark, and the interests of the proprietor of the well known mark are likely to be damaged by such use.
  • If it contains or consists of a geographical indication with respect to goods not originating in the territory indicated, if use of the indication in the mark for such goods in Malaysia is of such a nature as to mislead the public as to the true place of origin of the goods.
  • If it is a mark for wines which contains or consists of a geographical indication identifying wines, or is a mark for spirits which contains or consists of a geographical indication identifying spirits, not originating in the place indicated by the geographical indication in question.

90 precious experiences that entrepreneur Jason Goldberg learnt from founding 4 tech companies

Jason Goldberg, the founder and CEO of Fab.com, has shared a list of 90 things he has learnt from founding 4 tech companies, which is a revision and extension from the 57 things he learnt from founding 3 tech companies that he shared 2 years ago.

If you are running a start-up or working as employee in a start-up, this long list of sharing will probably be inspiring to you.

Click here to read about the 90 things that Jason has learnt from founding 4 tech companies.

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Fixed Windows 7 Stop: 0x0000007B blue screen error during boot time

I have a HP Probook laptop running on Windows 7 Pro, which recently accepted an automated update to its BIOS.

After the BIOS update successfully, and system rebooted, I got a disaster! Now Windows will not reboot into login screen, it will reboot again halfway during the booting process, giving me 2 options: to enter recovery mode, or to boot normally.

I entered into the recovery mode, tried using Startup Repair, the problem was not fixed. Went into the same screen again, tried System Restore to previous checkpoint, still unable to fix.

Tried running Windows Memory Diagnostic, the RAM is fine. Tried entering Command Prompt and check the disk, fixed the MBR, all not working.

Then, I booted with the "Disable automatic restart on system failure" option, I found this Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) showing the infamous Stop: 0x0000007B error.


Here are other methods I tried to fix the problem, but all not working:
  • Download the latest BIOS from HP website, make the bootable USB drive and reflash the laptop BIOS with the USB drive
  • Download the previous BIOS from HP website, make the bootable USB drive and reflash the laptop BIOS with the USB drive
  • Boot with "Enable low resolution video (640x480)"
  • Boot with "Last Known Good Configuration (advanced)"
  • Boot with "Disable Driver Signature Enforcement"
  • Go into the BIOS, set the SATA mode from AHCI to IDE
  • Go into the BIOS, set back the SATA mode from IDE to AHCI
I was about to give up, boot using System Rescue CD, mounted the Windows 7 partition using ntfs-3g command copied my files in the /mnt/Windows directory to another PC using the SFTP method.

Then, I downloaded the ISO file of Windows 7 SP1 from this website, burn it into DVD, and boot the laptop with it.

Last try, run the Startup Repair from the Windows 7 SP1 installation DVD, reboot the laptop with its harddisk. It booted up using a longer time than normal, and Whoala! I got the login screen. Logged into the Windows, everything is still there, try rebooting it, and the Stop: 0x0000007B error has gone.

So, I finally managed to fixed this problem by running Startup Repair from the Windows 7 SP1 installation DVD, instead of the Startup Repair from the installed Windows 7 system in the harddisk.

Hint: Click on the "Older Posts" link to continue reading, or click here for a listing of all my past 3 months articles.