Patent filings in Malaysia growing at 6% a year

KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 7,760 patent applications were filed at the Intellectual Property Corp of Malaysia (MyIPO) last year, compared with 7,350 in 2013, according to the Ministry of Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism (MDTCC).
"The level of patent filing in Malaysia is increasing every year with an average of 6%," said its deputy minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Bashah Md Hanipah, who represented the MDTCC Minister Datuk Hamzah Zainudin, at the launch of its five-day workshop on biotechnology field yesterday.
"From the total in 2014, a number of 417 (5.3%) are applications in the biotechnology discipline," he added, noting 16 patent examiners from 11 countries, including Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Belarus, Columbia, Cuba and Kenya will attend the workshop.

The workshop, called "WIPO-DPMA-MyIPO Advanced Training Course on Patent Search and Examination in the Field of Biotechnology" is cooperated by MDTCC and the German Patent and Trademark Office.
It aims to provide training for patent examiners on intellectual property officers in developing countries, to improve the skills of patent examination and to coordinate inspection rules in the field of biotechnology patents.
"This course will also provide the opportunity for all participants to exchange knowledge, ideas and experiences pertaining to the latest trends of biotechnology search and examination," Ahmad Bashah said.

Meanwhile, he said, the ministry and its agency MyIPO is in the midst to amend the Patents Act 1983, with a view of its readiness to accept the Budapest Treaty, noting the proposed amendment would be tabled in the current Parliament session.
Adopted in 1977, the Budapest Treaty concerns a specific topic in the international patent process, namely micro-organisms. All states party to the treaty are obliged to recognise micro-organisms deposited as a part of the patent procedure.