• Patent fees

Fees associated with filing patent applications in Malaysia as well as other patent fees are available in the fee calculator.

• Term for filing a patent application in Malaysia

The national patent application in Malaysia must be filed within 12 months from the priority date. The restoration of the priority right is not stipulated.

• Filing requirements in Malaysia

A patent application and its documents must be filed in English or Bahasa Malaysia at the filing date. However, in practice, nearly all applications are currently filed in English. Filing in a different language with late submission of English or Bahasa Malaysia translation is not possible.

For obtainment of a filing date, a patent application in Malaysia must contain:
- applicant’s and inventor’s details;
- specification comprising a description, claims and any necessary drawings;
- priority data (country and filing date of an earlier application), if any;
- payment of the prescribed fee.

A certified copy of the Priority Document may be requested by the Registar within the specified term (preferably within one month after filing during the formal examination).

Simply signed original of a Power of Attorney (POA) may be submitted during the formal examination that occurs approximately one months after filing the application. Legalization or notarization is not required.

Under the Malaysian IP law, there is no requirement or provision for filing an Assignment Deed, if the applicant is not the inventor. However, a statement explaining how the applicant derives its right to the patent from the inventor should be submitted to the Malaysian IPO during the formal examination (approximately one month after filing).

• Examination of a Malaysian patent application

Patent applications undergo formal and substantive examinations. Request for the substantive examination should be filed within 18 months from the filing date.

There are two options: standard substantive examination and modified substantive examination.

Under standard substantive examination, MyIPO will conduct its own search and substantive examination of the application, assisted whenever possible by the results of any search and examination in respect of applications for the same invention in recognized foreign jurisdictions (Australia, the United Kingdom, the European Patent Office, Japan, Korea, the United States).

A request for modified substantive examination may only be filed when a corresponding Australian, European, United Kingdom, Japanese, Korean or United States patent has been granted for the same invention. Under modified substantive examination, the application undergoes a simplified examination process. The application is checked for novelty, statutory subject-matter and compliance with the specification of the foreign patent relied on, but there is no examination for inventive step and the number of formal requirements.

It is possible to file a request for use of the search and examination results from the ASPEC member-country. It is also possible to accelerate the substantive examination in Malaysia via PPH route. 

• Novelty grace period

A one-year novelty grace period from the date of disclosure to the public before the date of filing is stipulated in the Malaysian legislation. If the application became available to the public due to the disclosure made in a bad faith by any third party or made in consequence of acts committed by the applicant or his predecessor in title or made by way of a pending application to register the patent in the UK IPO, it does not disprove the novelty of the invention in Malaysia.

• Grant, validity term and maintenance fees

No official grant fee is required to be paid. Validity term of the patent in Malaysia constitutes twenty years as of the filing date. Annual fees are due each year starting from the 2nd one and should be paid within twelve months from the date of grant. The succeeding annuities should be paid no later than the same anniversary when the patent is granted. Late payment is possible within a six-month grace period by paying a corresponding surcharge.

• Duration of registration procedure

Average processing time for patent registration procedure in Malaysia is three years.

• Utility Model

The Malaysian patent system includes provision for the grant of utility innovation certificates which are limited to one patent claim and are subject to formal and substantive examination.

A utility innovation is defined as any innovation which creates a new product or process, or any new improvement of a known product or process, which is capable of industrial application. There is no requirement for an inventive step.

The filing requirements and prosecution procedure are basically the same as for patents. A utility innovation is valid for 10 years from the filing date, extendible by 2 further periods of 5 years for a total of 20 years.

• Representation by a patent attorney

Foreigners must appoint an agent, a registered Malaysian patent attorney to perform the patent registration in Malaysia.

•  Note

Online search database for Malaysian Patents.

Brief summary is based on the information provided by NG, ARLENE TAN & LEONG on 09.02.2023
Please contact us if the above information is not in conformity with Malaysian IP Laws.