KUALA LUMPUR – The Road Transport Department (RTD) and the Transport Ministry have been served an RM1.3 million letter of demand over an alleged copyright infringement over the issuance of the ‘Madani’ vehicle number plate series.
The letter, issued by Ilham Madani Sdn Bhd programme director Hasan Azhari Hashim via solicitors Raj & Sach on Monday, claimed that Hasan is the rightful copyright owner of a working paper on the initiative, as registered under Section 26B of the Copyright Act 1987.
The government has seven days from the receipt of the letter to fulfil Hasan’s claim for RM1.3 million and additional compensation to cover the losses he suffered due to the use of the copyrighted material without his consent.
“If you neglect or refuse to make full payment of the outstanding amount (RM1.3 million), our client has strictly ordered that legal action be immediately initiated to recover the funds without further notice or reference to you,” the letter stated.
“Please note that if legal action is made necessary, you will be held responsible to pay legal fees shouldered by our client.”
Hasan claims that he wrote to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on February 27 last year to propose that he and RTD under the Transport Ministry collaborate to sell special number plates running from “Madani 1 – 9999” based on his copyrighted working paper.
About two months later, RTD had issued a statement stating that it was not issuing number plates in the ‘Madani’ series, cautioning the public against believing any “fake news” on the matter.
However, Hasan had continued to submit further proposals on the matter to the prime minister in August and October that same year, with his bid also referred to the Transport Ministry.
On October 31, 2023, Hasan said he received a letter from the government informing him that his proposals were rejected due to existing regulations disallowing the issuance of special registration numbers to private companies, non-governmental organisations and entities besides RTD.
While the rejection was reiterated in a February 6 letter this year, Hasan said he discovered in October this year that RTD had issued a public notice on the ‘Madani’ number plate series with the bidding price set to begin at RM100.
He argued that the sale of the number plates contradicts the reason previously cited by the government in rejecting his proposals, adding that his intellectual property rights have been violated.
“Our client has discovered that you have violated his intellectual property rights by using, copying, distributing and/or altering the copyrighted work without permission, by selling the special vehicle registration numbers ‘MADANI 1-9999’,” the letter stated.
It was previously reported that the ‘Madani’ number plate series offered to the public had garnered RM2.62 million for the government. – November 5, 2024