M’sian firm loses trade mark right to use word “Ponni” for rice variant

KUALA LUMPUR: In the first case of its kind, a Malaysian company lost its bid to retain exclusive rights to use the word “Ponni” for a variant of rice as the company’s trade mark.

The High Court, in its first case of recognition of Geographical Indication (GI) in Malaysian, ruled Tuesday that Syarikat Faiza Sdn Bhd was not entitled to retain the word “Ponni” exclusively when selling rice.