Patent registration in Malaysia. Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. After independence, the Malaysian GDP grew at an average of 6.5% per annum for almost 50 years. The economy has traditionally been fueled by its natural resources but is expanding in the sectors of science, tourism, commerce, and medical tourism. Malaysia has a newly industrialized market economy, ranked third largest in Southeast Asia and 33rd-largest in the world. It is a founding member of ASEAN, EAS, OIC, and a member of APEC, the Commonwealth, and the Non-Aligned Movement. Accordingly, many businesses want to enter this market and one of the most important preparations a business needs to take before expanding to this country is to learn the procedure of patent registration in Malaysia.
Patent in Malaysia
To be patentable in this country, an invention must meet the requirements of novelty, inventiveness, and industrial applicability.
However, if the disclosure of the invention in the patent application in Malaysia is absolutely necessary, the applicant should enter into a non-disclosure agreement with the third parties to whom the invention would be disclosed in order to protect their rights.
On the other hand, the novelty requirement is not absolute.
The novelty grace period in Malaysia is 1 year.
Meanwhile, the unpatentable subjects in Malaysia are:
- discoveries, scientific theories, and mathematical records;
- plant or animal varieties or essentially biological processes for the production of plants or animals, other than man-made living micro-organisms, microbiological processes, and the products of such microorganism processes;
- schemes, rules or methods for doing business, performing purely mental acts, or playing games;
- methods for the treatment of a human or animal body by surgery or therapy and diagnostic methods practiced on the human or animal body.
Necessary documents for patent registration in Malaysia
The necessary documents for patent registration in Malaysia include:
- The request to grant a patent (patent application);
- Detailed information on the applicant(s) including the applicant’s and inventor’s names, addresses, citizenships, etc.;
- A description of the invention;
- A signed and stamped power of attorney by the applicant(s);
- A copy of the amendments (if any);
- Priority documents (if any).
- Other required documents.
The procedure for patent registration in Malaysia
To obtain a patent in Malaysia, the applicant needs to file the patent application to the IP Office of Malaysia (The Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia – MyIPO).
Malaysia follows the first-to-file principle, therefore, the applicant should register their patent application as soon as possible in order to protect their rightful rights.
In Malaysia’s law, there is no procedure to oppose a patent application pre-grant.
However, on the other hand, after the granting of the patent, any third parties may file a request to invalidate the patent to the High Court of Malaysia.
Patent applications in Malaysia undergo formal and substantive examinations. Request for the substantive examination should be filed within 18 months from the filing date.
Especially, the applicant may choose which types of examinations they want to conduct, the standard substantive examination and modified substantive examination.
Validity protection of a patent
A patent in Malaysia will have a protection period of 20 years from the filing date.
To maintain this protection, the patentee needs to pay the annual maintenance fee.
However, it should be noted that depending on the time the patent application was filed, either before or after 1 August 2001, the patent will have a validity period from 15 years to 20 years.
If the maintenance fees are not paid in time, the patent will lapse and a notice of the lapse of the patent for the non-payment will be published in the Government Gazette.
You can find the list of Malaysia IP Firms here.