Uproar over Tourism Ministry’s promotional stamps has been sorted out

The bird on the Malaysian stamp, shown perching in a slightly-tilted position on a brown branch, purportedly had the same claw positions with Ocon’s image. Photo: Malay Mail Online

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 7: The designer for Tourism Ministry’s promotional Visit Malaysia 2014 postal stamps has sorted out matters with the photographer who owned the photos used in the draft of the stamps.

Tourism Malaysia Deputy Director-General (Planning) Datuk Azizan Noordin told Bernama today that Tourism Ministry would hold a meeting with the relevant parties next week to get further clarification on the issue and clear all matters.

“We were told the designer had approached and sorted out matters with the photographer and we will call for a meeting with everyone involved, including Pos Malaysia, the designer and consultant for the promotional stamps,” he said when met after the launch of A Journey Through Time, 7th edition, at Starhill Gallery, here Thursday.

Azizan said the promotional stamp project was handled by a design and consultant company and had not been handed over to the ministry.

However, efforts by Bernama to contact the consultant company failed.

Last week, The Malay Mail, a local English daily, reported that Pos Malaysia’s promotional poster of Tourism Malaysia’s promotional stamp series on birds had caused an uproar with a Filipino photographer alleging that one of his artwork had been lifted for use without his permission.

The paper reported, to make matters worst, Romy Ocon said he found that the bird picture that had an uncanny resemblance to the one he had snapped, to be wrongly labelled, adding insult to injury over the intellectual property theft.

source: BERNAMA