Pensonic Holdings Berhad (stylized as PENSONIC) () founded by Dato Chew Weng Khak () is a company that started business as a small shop in

Penang Penang ( ms, Pulau Pinang, is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, by the Malacca Strait. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay ...

selling electrical appliances trading under the name of ''Keat Radio Co.'' in 1965 as a sole proprietor. In 1982, Chew started the ''PENSONIC'' brand name to produce locally manufactured electrical appliances in order to ensure long term growth of his company, and the brand name “PENSONIC” was invented by combining “Pen” and “sonic” to mean “Sound of Penang”. Despite its popularity, there is a dispute between PENSONIC brand and Panasonic brand whereby the latter feels that the brand name of PENSONIC is too similar to

Panasonic formerly between 1935 and 2008 and the first incarnation of between 2008 and 2022, is a major Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka, Kadoma, Osaka P ...

and may have capitalized on the market share of Panasonic. The dispute was eventually brought to the courts of law in several countries. Panasonic had won an injunction in Singapore in November 2008 against PENSONIC after it has been operating for over 20 years. The PENSONIC name is considered by Panasonic as one of many

knockoff Counterfeit consumer goods (or counterfeit and fraudulent, suspect items - CFSI) are goods, often of inferior quality, made or sold under another's brand name without the brand owner's authorization. Sellers of such goods may infringe on eith ...

names of

of Japan. In Sri Lanka, PENSONIC has squashed the opposition of Panasonic for its trade mark registration in January 2009.Judgment by D. M. Karunaratna, Director of Intellectual Properties on Application no. 99105 The judgment observed that PENSONIC was registered in Malaysia in 1984 and the same was registered in Japan (the home country of Panasonic) and many countries in the world without the objection of Panasonic. This means that in these countries the two brands in fact historically co-exist.

Referenced

External links

PENSONIC's official website

Japanese blog showing knockoff products in Malaysia including PENSONIC

Company Overview of Pensonic9 Holdings Berhad
bloomberg.com {{Electronics industry in Malaysia, state=collapsed 1965 establishments in Malaysia Electronics companies of Malaysia Retail companies of Malaysia Electronics companies established in 1965 Retail companies established in 1965 Malaysian companies established in 1965 Companies based in Penang Companies listed on Bursa Malaysia Malaysian brands Radio manufacturers