“If he wants to try his luck, he can. But we will respond accordingly through the Attorney-General’s Chambers,” Loke told a press conference today.

His comments come after Hasan Azhari Hashim, a director of a company named Ilham Madani Sdn Bhd, announced plans to sue the government for RM1.3 million over what he described as a violation of intellectual property rights concerning the use of the “MADANI” prefix for the number plates.

Loke said the authority to register number plates is under the Road Transport Act, managed by the transport ministry.

“Any approval for special number plates has to go through the ministry, and there’s no question of anyone having copyright over a number plate,” he said.

He also said the ministry had consulted with the Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO), which confirmed that the intellectual property rights in question, if any, pertained only to documents or “papers”.

“They don’t have intellectual property rights over number plates,” he said.

In a letter of demand to the transport ministry and the road transport department (JPJ), Hasan 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.

It said 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, it said, 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.

Hasan said he submitted further proposals to the prime minister in August and October 2023, which were referred to the transport ministry.