Accelerating Patent Examination in Malaysia – The Secret to Seizing the Innovation Threat

For Malaysian patent applicants who have already filed a request for substantive examination, they can further request accelerated examination after the patent application is published. In Malaysia, the prerequisite for filing a request for accelerated examination is that the applicant must pay the official fee required for accelerated examination and submit a statutory declaration detailing the reasons for the request.

Reasons for requesting accelerated examination may include:

• National or public interest
• Infringement issues that have occurred or may occur
• Commercialization of the invention or upcoming business plan within two years
• Green technology related
• Or meet other conditions for obtaining financial support from the government or institution

Once a request for accelerated examination is approved, the applicant must pay the accelerated examination request fee. Typically, the applicant will receive the first office opinion within one month of approval. For negative opinions, the applicant must respond or submit amendments within three weeks of receipt; this deadline is not extendable. If a response is not submitted within the specified timeframe, or if the response fails to address the examiner's concerns, the request for accelerated examination will be deemed withdrawn.

However, if the examination opinion is positive and proactive, patent grant can usually be achieved within a week.

Malaysia’s accelerated examination system provides applicants with a fast track from application to patent application, which is particularly important for inventions with extremely high commercial demand.