Protection of trademarks in Malaysia to be made easier as Madrid Protocol comes into effect from 27 December 2019
30 October 2019
On 27 September 2019, the Government of Malaysia deposited its instrument of accession to the Protocol relating to the Madrid Agreement concerning the International Registration of Marks (“Madrid Protocol”) with the World Intellectual Property Organization. Thereby Malaysia became the 106th member of the Madrid System for the International Registration of Marks (“Madrid System”), bringing the total number of countries covered by the Madrid Protocol to 122.
The Madrid System is governed by the Madrid Agreement, concluded in 1891, and the Madrid Protocol relating to that Agreement, concluded in 1989. The Madrid System makes it possible to protect a mark in its 122 member countries by obtaining an international registration that has effect in each of these countries. With the Madrid System, the process of multinational trademark registration is streamlined through a single international application and management process, with a single set of fees.
The Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO) stated that the accession reflects Malaysia’s initiative to ease the doing of business in this region. The accession makes Malaysia accessible to the global market and will also reduce the cost of doing business in Malaysia which benefits both local businesses and those looking to invest in Malaysia.
The Madrid Protocol will come into force for Malaysia on 27 December 2019, three months from accession. Malaysia’s new Trademarks Act 2019, which incorporates the changes brought about by the Madrid Protocol as well as other revisions to the country’s trademarks regime, is also expected to come into force on this date.
Reference materials
The statement issued by the Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia is available on its website www.myipo.gov.my by clicking here.