Malaysia New Updates for Your Immediate Attention!
Malaysia New Trademarks Act 2019 and the Madrid Protocol

The Trade Marks Act 1976 will soon be repealed by Malaysia new Trademarks Act 2019 in one month. The new Act which is speculated to be officially enforced concurrently on 27th December 2019 with the opening of the Madrid trademark filing system will have a wider scope of protection for trademark owners, and an increased enforceability against counterfeit and bad faith application.

Some of the major changes are set forth below:

  1. One time filing fee (Combined filing fees and publication/registration fees)
  2. Introduction of the Madrid filing system for trademarks;
  3. Introduction of non-traditional trademarks such as 3D and sound mark;
  4. Introduction of multi-classification applications;
  5. Introduction of division and merging of trademark applications;
  6. Introduction of voluntary cancellation of trademark by Registrant without resorting to Court proceedings;
  7. Combined appeal stage for trademark provisional refusal wherein Applicant may opt for appeal by way of written submission OR ex-parte hearing; and
  8. Abolish the requirement of Statutory Declaration or Power of Attorney for trademark application (Notarisation of filing documents is NOT required)

The above features are non-exhaustive, and there are major changes in relation to the official fees which affect all stages of trademark application. We urge you to refer to our latest Schedule of Charges for the year 2020 for further details.