MALAYSIA
MALAYSIA ACCELERATES ON IP
Dave A Wyatt and Lim Eng Leong Henry Goh
Patents
T ere was plenty of patent activity keeping IP owners and practitioners alike busy in 2012. Although there were no legislative changes for patents, the eff ects of new rules that came into force in early 2011 have continued to be felt. T e key features of the rule changes were to bring forward the time within which certain fi ling formalities of an application must be completed, to shorten the timeframes for requesting examination and responding to offi ce actions, and to introduce a formal option for requesting expedited examination.
Overall, practice under the new rules has settled down. T e earlier completion of fi ling formalities was a positive development for both IP owners and the Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO), allowing both to focus on patentability at the substantive examination stage. T e shortened timeframes for prosecution may have less eff ect than anticipated by the legislator, as the length of the process from fi ling to grant continues to be governed by applicant behaviour as well as the speed with which MyIPO processes requests and responses.
Having said that, it is now common to receive a fi rst offi ce action within a year of requesting examination. Finally, from the authors’ experience, the uptake of expedited examination has been limited. It is seen as an exceptional procedure in view of the high offi cial fee. Foreign applicants especially can oſt en seek to expedite grant of their Malaysian patents more cost-eff ectively by using modifi ed examination.
Patent applications fi led in Malaysia in 2012 reached a record high of 7,027. T is is the fi rst time that the number of applications has reached the 7,000 mark. It represents a growth of 7 percent over 2011’s record fi gure of 6,559. T e number of applications from local applicants showed a modest increase of 2 percent; the bulk of the increase came from foreign applicants whose fi lings went up by 8 percent. T is is seen as further evidence of the shiſt eastwards of the IP world’s centre of gravity. Total
86 World Intellectual Property Review e-Digest 2013
THERE WAS NO LAW TO THE EFFECT THAT A PARTY TO A CIVIL ACTION MUST PERSONALLY ATTEND COURT AND GIVE EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT ITS CLAIMS.
patent fi lings have now risen successively over the last fi ve years. Patent grants on the other hand showed a more modest growth, of 4.5 percent to 2,501 (2011 fi gure: 2,392).
Back on the local front, Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applications fi led with MyIPO showed a recovery, with 300 applications fi led in 2012 as compared to 251 in the previous year.
In tandem with an increased number of patents, the courts in Malaysia continue to adjudicate on a rising number of patent disputes. It is not entirely surprising then that one of the decided IP High Court cases reached the Court of Appeal. Last year, we reported on the case of Ranbaxy (Malaysia)
www.worldipreview.com
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