'Sambal Wars': How Khairul Aming Spiced Up a Legal Battle Over Packaging! 🌶️⚖️

By: Nur Farisha Adriana

Case: Khairul Aming vs. Sambal Nyet Khairi

If you’re a designer or a design student, you’ve probably encountered this situation, spending hours attempting to perfect a logo or a stunning packaging, and the detailed planning needed to map out the overall product design. But did you know that your designs are automatically protected under copyright law the moment you create them? And if you want to make sure no one copies your brand, you need trademark protection too! Let us dive into a real-life example from Malaysia that every designer should know about.

Khairul Aming, a famous Malaysian influencer and entrepreneur, created the infamous Sambal Nyet Berapi, which became a viral hit in various platforms. In order to protect his product, he registered the brand name and logo as a trademark with MyIPO (Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia). For a while, everything seemed fine—until he found out that another company was selling a nearly identical product called Sambal Nyet Khairi.

Not only did the competitor copied the name, but they also mimicked the packaging design, label layout, and even included a thank-you card with a similar style! Khairul Aming immediately took action and sent them a *Letter of Demand to stop selling the copycat product.

*A Letter of Demand (LOD) is a formal document sent by one party to another to:

1. Request the fulfillment of an obligation (like payment of a debt or stopping an infringement), and

2. Warn of potential legal action if the demands are not met within a specific timeframe.

Figure 1: Public comment towards the dispute between Khairul and Khairi

Khairul Aming's legal team issued a Letter of Demand (LOD) outlining eight specific demands related to alleged infringement of intellectual property rights and passing off. He has stated that failure to comply with these demands would lead to further legal proceedings. Although the Sambal Nyet dispute primarily centers around trademark infringement, there is a potential overlap with copyright law, and this is where it gets interesting for us, design students.

1. Trademark Law protects the brand name (Sambal Nyet), the logo, and any symbols that represent the brand. It’s all about stopping consumer confusion.
   
   
2. Copyright Law protects the artistic designs on the packaging, the graphic layouts, and even the thank-you card design. This protection happens automatically as soon as you create the design, even if you don’t register it.

If Sambal Nyet Khairi also reproduced the label design, font style, and card layout in a way that is substantially similar besides copying the name and logo, then Khairul Aming could potentially claim copyright infringement.

For example:

• If the font style and layout on the jar look nearly identical, that’s copyright infringement.

If the thank-you card included with the product is a clear replica of Khairul Aming’s card, that’s copyright infringement too.

Figure 2: Comparison of product packaging

Figure 3: Comparison of 'Thank You' card

Why is This Important for the Designers/ Design Students?

If you create something original—whether it's a logo, a product label, or even a business card design—it’s protected under copyright law from the moment you make it.

1. You don’t need to register it for it to be protected, although registration makes it easier to prove ownership.
2. If someone copies your design, you can take legal action just like Khairul Aming did.

Copyright Law Protection

1. Copyright Act 1987 (Malaysia)
   Under the Copyright Act 1987, copyright subsists in every eligible work from the moment it is created and fixed in a tangible form, provided the author is a qualified person. This means that as soon as a designer creates an original work—be it a logo, packaging design, or illustration—it is automatically protected under Malaysian law.
   
   
2. Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works
   Malaysia is a signatory to the Berne Convention, which mandates that copyright protection must be granted automatically, without the need for registration or other formalities. This international agreement reinforces the automatic protection principle within Malaysian law.

-Nur Farisha

References:

1. https://www.astroawani.com/berita-malaysia/tiru-sambal-nyet-khairul-aming-hantar-surat-tuntutan-451887
2. https://www.scoop.my/news/150345/youre-toast-khairul-aming-to-dish-out-lawsuit-against-sambal-nyet-khairi-owner/
3. https://www.therakyatpost.com/news/malaysia/2023/12/29/spicy-legal-action-khairul-aming-cracks-down-on-copycat-sambal-nyet/
4. https://www.intellect-worldwide.com/2024/03/01/trademark-protection-in-the-digital-age-a-case-of-sambal-nyet-berapi/