What are the most significant cases or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

The team successfully secured patent filings for a hydrogen paired electric race car (HyPER) and hydrogen generator, on 22 December 2021, in which, NanoMalaysia Berhad (NMB) views the protection of intellectual property (IP) as fundamental for innovation to thrive and our IP assets can be integral to the core services of our business and overall long-term viability.

Looking at the potential, NMB has also embarked on international patent filings in relation to its key projects, namely HyPER and Hydrogen Generator. Realising the high potential of the inventions and products in global markets, NMB through group legal has stepped up its strategy in protecting its IPs internationally via PCT filing, a summary of which is as below:

PCT Filing for HyPER project:

– NMB collaborated with EV Connections, Wheelspin Motorsports, Admatix Solutions and Hypertech Industries, in utilising hydrogen stored and refilled in the form of compressed gas, requiring heavy infrastructure and compressed tanks. Through this technology paired with H2SS, Hydrogen is generated on the go using solid-state hydrogen with water, providing a cleaner energy alternative with less carbon footprint.

– Due to this invention’s inventiveness, NMB has successfully filed a patent application in Malaysia and PCT filing, in which the IP ownership is jointly owned with the respective parties.

– In Malaysia, the patent was filed on 2021 (Patent No. PI2021005187) prior to the launching of the product, while the PCT application was filed on the same year (PCT No. PCT/MY2021/050127).

PCT Filing for Hydrogen Generator project:

– NMB collaborated with Pulsar UAV (“PUSB”) in developing a unique invention that provides a hydrogen generator for generating hydrogen for fuel cell application and a method of generating hydrogen from the hydrogen generator. In brief, a hydrogen generator provides an on-demand hydrogen gas as an alternative fuel supply for generating electrical energy to be used in various applications.

– For this invention, NMB successfully filed patent applications in three embodiments with MYIPO on 9 December 2020, while the PCT application was filed on 22 December 2020.

As the result, NMB has filed four PCT Filings and launched four projects with media coverage in 2022 namely NAVi, EV Micro Mobility, and ECLIMO ES11 e-Motorbike. The total IPs that have been filed by the team is 54 IPs in 2022 consisting of Patent, Copyright, and Trademark.

Looking forward, what technological advancements do you feel will impact the role of inhouse legal teams in the future the most? Which have you found most useful in your legal team?

The role of in-house counsel has evolved to become more of a strategic business partner that supports the organisation, gets involved in strategic decisions by providing legal advice, works to improve processes, and assists in navigating complex challenges, all while being held accountable for their actions and decisions.

By becoming an integral part of the executive team, legal team can create and implement solutions that go beyond providing legal advice. They get empowered to turn into decision drivers rather than mere legal consultants. There are certain key skills that legal team need to have:

(a) Technological acumen might sound obvious, since virtually all modern professionals need to master technology in their fields. However, in the case of legal professionals, becoming well versed in the latest legal tech becomes more pressing to cover the aspect of nanotechnology. From automating manual processes like legal team holds to managing contracts, the number of processes that can be streamlined through available legal technology is endless with new policies and SOPs to provide guidance for the process.

(b) Innovative spirit closely related to tech-savviness, legal team must think out of the box and keep an innovative spirit to build resilience and come up with original and quick solutions to new challenges every year to ensure we evolve and are efficient in making any decision.

(c) Clear communication legal team is in the same boat as the rest of the company, it’s in our best interest to be understood as quickly and effectively as possible. Complex legalese and cumbersome legal analyses might alienate people from other teams, and we make sure present information concisely that ensures effective communication.

For example, legal team is using the IP management system and valuation software offered by Questel and Valuing IP, respectively. The main purpose of this system is to ensure all IPs under NanoMalaysia Berhad be managed efficiently and effectively for all IPs filling, execution, and timeline. And as for valuation software, it will ensure the IP values that owned by the company will be based on the market values. In fact, the incorporation of legal technology into the practice of in Group legal teams provide more central, strategic and solutions using efficiency tools.

Based on the result of the usage of the system, the management starting to realise and position legal team as strategic business partners rather than just another expense. The legal team actually driving that change and need to constantly prove our worth and demonstrate why we are a key asset to their companies.

As we enter the next decade, what skills will a corporate legal team need to succeed in the modern in-house industry?

For the legal team, we believe in our core vision for the team members, namely:

(a) Humility, the most effective thing for legal team is to recognise that there is still more to learn and embrace an attitude rooted in growth, constantly acquiring new substantive skills. The management allows the team to explore and acquire a new set of skills that later can be used by the company. The rapid changes in the laws in Malaysia and other laws outside of the countries, motivate us to learn more to ensure the team can advise the company on the best practices.

(b) Creativity, as the legal team needs to be creative in providing solutions to our stakeholders. The team never hesitates to venture outside the box or suggest fresh ideas to the management and learn how to think in different ways (however, not simply approaching any problems linearly) to assist the company businesses in harnessing the potential of innovation effectively. The team challenges the way things have traditionally been done and never accept the status quo and always seek out new approaches to completing tasks. Thinking creatively about the law is where legal innovation begins.

(c) Agility to learn, as business is becoming further digitised, legal team should be able to anticipate these changes, incorporating the new technological, business, and legal approaches into our practices. Now, we are not just expected to provide advice to safeguard the company but also to develop new methods to produce value for the company’s IPs. As the business changes, the legal team must adopt new skill sets and must be able and willing to learn from experiences and apply what they have learned to new situations. As legal work grows increasingly complicated and technologically intensive, our group legal should embrace learning opportunities rather than avoid them. Though it may be difficult for us to step outside our comfort zones, one method for becoming more agile is to view novel work as a positive reinforcer, self-reflect on any errors made, and course-correct deliberately to prepare for the next teachable moment.

(d) Influencing skills, as with limited funds and the significant obligation of controlling the entirety of a company’s risk, group legal must persuade and leverage other stakeholders, and all staff to complete the tasks. Good listening skills, compassion, and curiosity are essential for the team to develop organisational influence.

(e) Clear communication as the legal team needs to confer with several audiences on any given day, ranging from C-suite, senior managers, and corporate boards to entry-level employees. Group legal must learn how to communicate their messages to these diverse groups while utilising proper, understandable language. They must also decide how much information to share and with whom and when and how to provide it.