Tay & Partners

Covid-19 (1 April 2020)

CLIENT ALERT: Extension of MyIPO’s Closure of Operations (1 - 14 April 2020)

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On 31 March 2020, the Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO) issued a notice (read here) extending the closure of its operations until 14 April 2020 following the extension of the Movement Control Order

The notice provides as follows:

  1. Dates that were initially rescheduled to 1 April 2020 in MyIPO’s first notice (read here) on 17 March 2020 are now extended to 15 April 2020. These include:

    1. priority dates that will expire during the period of closure claimed through manual filings; and

    2. deadlines for renewing patents and industrial designs which fall within the period of closure.

  2. For new PCT applications, filings can be made via WIPO’s IP portal (see here). The guidance for creating an account can be found here.

  3. Deadlines for renewing patents and utility innovations that have expired (or will expire) between 18 March 2020 and 14 April 2020 are extended to 30 April 2020.

  4. For trademarks applications that are filed manually and involve priority dates which have expired (or will expire) during the period of closure, these applications may be filed by 20 April 2020. The extension is only for search and examination purposes and would not affect the filing dates of the applications.

  5. MyIPO’s IP Online Search & Filing remains operational throughout the period of closure.

  6. The other extended deadlines in MyIPO’s first notice remain the same. This includes:

    1. the deadlines for responding to office actions (e.g. appeals, oppositions and payments) falling within the period of closure which have been extended to 30 April 2020; and

    2. renewals for trademarks that have expired between 27 December 2019 and 27 March 2020 which have been extended to 30 April 2020.

Special Notice

As judicial and legal services are not essential services, our business premises will be closed and our lawyers and staff will be working remotely until the Movement Control Order is lifted. It currently expires on 14 April 2020.

If you have any questions regarding the above or would like to reach us for a new matter or learn about our business continuity plans during this time, please contact your relationship partner or lawyer in the usual way.



Lee Lin Li
Partner
T: +603 2050 1898
linli.lee@taypartners.com.my