Entry 13

Last Wednesday, I went to EVO Mall and my dad was interested on the massage chair and I thought that the software used to make the Ogawa chair should be patented by law to protect the  works made by the owner or maker of the software. I googled about patents in Malaysia and found out that The Patents Act 1983 and the Patents Regulations 1986 govern patent protection in Malaysia. An applicant may file a patent application directly if he is domicile or resident in Malaysia. A foreign application can only be filed through a registered patent agent in Malaysia acting on behalf of the applicant.

Similar to legislations in other countries, an invention is patentable if it is new, involves an inventive step and is industrially applicable. In accordance with TRIPS, the Patents Act stipulates a protection period of 20 years from the date of filing of an application. Under the Act, the utility innovation certificate provides for an initial duration of ten years protection from the date of filing of the application and renewable for further two consecutive terms of five years each subject to use. The owner of a patent has the right to exploit the patented invention, to assign or transmit the patent, and to conclude a licensed contract.

In accordance with TRIPS, under the scope of compulsory licence, the Act allows for importation of patented products that are already in the other countries' market (parallel import).The Government can prohibit commercial exploitation of patents for reasons of public order or morality. The Act was amended to include provision for Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) and to allow importation under the scope of compulsory license.

Malaysia has acceded to the PCT in the year 2006 and effective from 16 August 2006, the PCT International Application can be made at the Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO).

source:https://www.mida.gov.my/home/intellectual-property-protection/posts/