To qualify for registration in Malaysia, your design must:-

(a)    be new (meaning not previously sold or made public in Malaysia or public disclosure of not more than 6 months prior to date of application*) and

(b)   have “eye appeal”

(c) not on record of the Register of Designs

The following are unregistrable under the Malaysian industrial design law :-

(a)    a method or principle of construction;

(b)   features of shape or configuration of an article which are dictated solely by function;

(c)    features of shape or configuration of an article which are dependent on the appearance of another article of which the article is intended by the author of the design to form an integral part;

(d)   an integrated circuit or part of an integrated circuit (which is protected separately under the Layout-Designs of Integrated Circuits Act 2000); and

(e)    designs that are contrary to public order and morality.

     *provided the disclosure was made in an official exhibition or by a person other than the applicant as a result of an unlawful act committed by that other person.

Does an industrial design registered in Malaysia have international protection?

No. A Malaysian design registration confers protection only in Malaysia. 

Who can apply to register an industrial design?

Only the owner of the design whether individual or company can apply to register his industrial design. He may appoint a registered industrial design agent to make the application on his behalf. 

Are multi-class applications for industrial design allowed?

Yes. Multi-class industrial design applications are allowed in Malaysia where:-

(a)    the different designs belong to the same class of the Locarno International Design Classification;

(b)    the different designs have the same applicant but different authors and priority claims;

Each design is protected separately. There is a 50% reduction of official filing and renewal fees for each additional design.

What is the Locarno Classification?

The Locarno Classification is created based on the Locarno Agreement Establishing an International Classification for Industrial Design signed in 1968. The Locarno Classification consists of numbers of the classes and subclasses of the Classification into which the goods incorporating the designs belong.  These numbers of the classes and subclasses are required to be included in official and publication documents for the purposes of registering industrial designs in member countries. The Locarno Classification comprises of 32 classes and 219 subclasses which enables efficient filing of industrial design with reference to a single classification system adopted and applied in the same manner by all member countries. 

View the current 9th Edition of the Locarno Classification at WIPO's 
website