In a letter of demand issued to the transport ministry and the road transport department (JPJ), Hasan Azhari Hashim claimed to be the rightful copyright owner of a working paper on the subject registered under Section 26B of the Copyright Act 1987.
The letter, issued on Monday by solicitors Raj & Sach, demanded that the government pay the compensation within seven days from its receipt.
“Should you fail, neglect or refuse to make full payment of the amount, our client has instructed us to take immediate legal action against you to recover the quantum without further notice or reference to you,” the letter read.
The letter claims that Hasan sent a proposal to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim in February last year seeking to collaborate on the selling of special number plates running from MADANI 1 to 9999 based on the copyright.
However, JPJ wrote back in April the same year stating that it would not be issuing number plates in the “MADANI” series. The department also warned the public not to believe any “fake news” on the matter.
The claimant submitted further proposals to the prime minister in August and October 2023, which were referred to the transport ministry.
Hasan said he received letters rejecting the proposal because of existing regulations that disallow the issuance of special registration numbers to private companies, NGOs or any other entities.
The letter claimed that last month, Hasan discovered that JPJ had issued a public notice on the “MADANI” series of number plates with the bid price set to begin at RM100.
Hasan claimed the government had unlawfully adopted his idea and copyrighted work, constituting a “clear infringement” of his intellectual property.
“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 said.
Last month, Bernama also reported that the “MADANI” series of number plates offered to the public had netted RM2.62 million for the government.
FMT has reached out to the transport ministry for comment.