Q. What is a patent?
A. A Patent is an award granted by the state which gives to its owner certain exclusive rights in relation to an invention, for a limited period of time, in exchange for publication of information about the invention. As it can be clearly seen, patents are in relation to inventions.

Q. What are inventions?
A. The current Malaysian Patent legislation defines inventions as “an idea of an inventor which permits in practice the solution to a specific problem in the field of technology”. An invention may relate to a product or a process.

Q. Are all inventions patentable?
A. No. An invention to be patentable must satisfy several requirements namely novelty, inventiveness and industrial applicability before it can be considered patentable.

Q. What is the legislation governing the award of patents?
A. The current legislation is the Patents Act 1983.

Q. What is the procedure for filing an application?
A. All the necessary paperwork is usually done by the patent agent. Apart from the information of the invention, the only form which is required to be executed by the applicant is the Authorisation of Agent Form.

Q. How long does it take for an application to be processed?
A. As the application goes through several stages of examination, it may take between 3-5 years before the application is granted patent depending on the complexity of the invention.

Q. What is the duration of the award of patent?
A. The Patents Act 1983 grants an owner exclusive rights to deal with the patent for a term of 20 years from the date of filing of the application for patent.

Q. What are the rights attached to an award of a patent?
A. The patent owner shall have the exclusive right to exploit, assign or transmit, and conclude licence contracts in relation to the patent. Exploitation includes the making, importing, offering for sale, selling, or using the said invention.

Q. Why do I need to patent my invention?
A. As the owner secures exclusive rights to deal with the said invention, any third party who deals with the said invention without the consent of the owner would be committing an infringing act and thus will be liable to infringement proceedings.