Trademark in Malaysia

A trademark is a sign which distinguishes the goods and services of one trader from those of another. A mark may include words, logos, pictures, names, letters, numbers or a combination of these.
An application shall not be made in respect of goods or services comprised in more than one class (single class system).

Trademark in Malaysia

According to section 25 of Trademark Law Treaty, “the Registrar may refuse the application or may accept it absolutely or subject to such conditions, amendments, modifications or limitations, if any, as he may think right to impose”.

• When the application for registration has been accepted, it is advertised and any person may file the opposition. The Registrar shall decide whether: 1) to refuse the trademark; 2) to register the trademark absolutely; 3) to register the trademark subject to such conditions, amendments, modifications or limitations as he may think fit. The decision of the Registrar is subject to appeal.
• In the absence of objections and oppositions, the registration process takes approximately between twelve and eighteen months from the date of filing.
  Under section 36 of the Trademarks Act “In all legal proceedings relating to a registered trademark the fact that a person is registered as proprietor of the trademark shall be prima facie evidence of the validity of the original registration of the trademark and of all subsequent assignments and transmission thereof”:
• A registered trademark may be removed from the Register upon application by an aggrieved person on the ground that the mark was registered without any genuine intention to use the said mark and there has been such use; or there has been no bona fide use of the mark in Malaysia for at least three years prior to one month before the date of application to remove it.
  Trademark registration is valid for ten years from the date of application and may be renewed every ten years.

According to section 38 of the Trademarks Act, a registered trademark is infringed by a person who, not being the registered proprietor of the trademark or registered user of the trademark using by way of permitted use, uses a mark which is identical with it or so nearly resembling it as is likely to deceive or cause confusion in the course of trade in relation to goods or services in respect of which the trademark is registered.