Industrial Design – FAQs

An industrial design refers to the ornamental or aesthetic aspects of a product, its shape, configuration, pattern, or colour, that give it a unique appearance. Industrial design protection covers the visual features of a product, not its technical or functional aspects, which are covered by patents.

An industrial design protects the visual or aesthetic appearance of a product (shape, pattern, colour). A patent protects the functional or technical aspects of an invention. A single product can have both, for example, a uniquely shaped tool may have its appearance protected by an industrial design and its mechanism protected by a patent.

An industrial design protects the ornamental appearance of a product. A trademark protects signs that identify the commercial origin of goods or services (names, logos, slogans). The shape or appearance of a product may qualify for protection under both regimes in some circumstances, but the rights are distinct.

Copyright protects original artistic works automatically upon creation, no registration required. Industrial design protects designs applied to articles produced in commercial quantities and must be registered to be enforceable. For products intended for industrial production, design registration is the appropriate route, copyright alone may not give reliable protection once an article enters mass manufacture.

The owner of a registered industrial design has the exclusive rights to make, import for sale or hire, for use for the purposes of any trade or business, to sell, hire or to offer, or to expose for sale or hire any article relevant to the registered industrial design. The owner holds the right to license the registered design to third parties for commercial purposes, which prevents fraudulent activity concerning the protected design from other individuals.

Yes. As the registered owner, you may grant licences to third parties, permitting them to use the design commercially in exchange for royalties or other agreed terms. Licences can be exclusive or non-exclusive and should be recorded in writing. Licensing does not transfer ownership, the registered owner retains the registration.

Yes. The ownership of a registered industrial design can be assigned (fully transferred) to another person or entity. The assignment should be recorded with the relevant intellectual property office to be effective against third parties. Unlike a licence, an assignment passes all rights in the design to the new owner.

An industrial design can only be registered if it is new. In this context, an industrial design will not be considered as new if prior to the priority date of that application immaterial details or features commonly used in the relevant trade is the only distinguishing factor between the two designs: (1) Was disclosed to the public anywhere in Malaysia or elsewhere, or (2) Was the subject matter of another application for registration of an industrial design filed in Malaysia but having an earlier priority date made by a different applicant.

An industrial design cannot be registered if it opposes public order or morality. Additionally, features of a design that are dictated solely by technical function, or that must necessarily be reproduced in their exact form to allow the product to be connected to or placed around another product, are generally excluded from protection.

No. Commercial use is not a requirement for registration. However, maintaining the registration over its full term may require renewal fees to be paid at the appropriate intervals. The design must be new at the time of application, prior public disclosure, including by the applicant, can jeopardise registrability.

Yes, by combining industrial design registration for the visual appearance with a patent or utility innovation for the technical aspects. This layered approach gives comprehensive protection for commercially valuable products: the design registration guards the look, while the patent guards the underlying mechanism or process.

Yes. Packaging designs, screen displays, icons, and graphical user interfaces are registrable, provided they meet novelty and other statutory requirements. For digital products, capturing the distinctive look of key screens and interactive states as separate views in the application is recommended.

Yes. Malaysia allows multiple-design applications provided the designs belong to the same Locarno class. This offers cost efficiency for businesses with product ranges sharing a common design language, such as a furniture collection, a tableware set, or a family of consumer-electronics housings.

Under the Industrial Designs Act 1996 that was updated in 2013, the term of protection of a registered industrial design has been increased from 15 to 25 years in Malaysia.

No. Industrial design registration is territorial, protection in Malaysia does not extend to other countries. To obtain protection abroad, you must file in each target jurisdiction separately or use the Hague System administered by WIPO, which allows a single international application to cover multiple member countries. Malaysia acceded to the Hague Agreement in 2022.

Public disclosure before filing generally destroys novelty. Malaysia provides a six-month grace period for certain disclosures by the designer, but to preserve international rights, filing before any disclosure is strongly advised. Trade-show launches, social-media reveals, and product previews to journalists all count as disclosure.

Registration typically takes between six and twelve months, subject to formalities examination by MyIPO. Industrial design applications are not subject to substantive novelty examination at the registration stage, novelty is tested instead in any later invalidity proceedings.

Maintain dated records such as design sketches, CAD files, prototypes, internal memos, and email correspondence. These records support ownership claims and priority in the event of disputes, and are particularly important for designs developed by teams or by external consultants where authorship may later be contested.

The initial registration of an industrial design is valid for five years, beginning from the filing date of the industrial design application. If each application is made before the expiration of the present term, the industrial design registration can be renewed for four further consecutive terms of five years each, making the total duration of protection 25 years.

If a renewal is not filed before the expiration of the current term, the registration will lapse and the design will lose protection. Some jurisdictions allow a grace period after the deadline to restore a lapsed registration upon payment of a late fee, but this is not guaranteed. It is advisable to monitor renewal deadlines carefully.

First, document the infringement with evidence (photos, product samples, purchase records). Consider sending a cease-and-desist letter to the infringer. If infringement continues, you may pursue civil litigation for an injunction and damages. For counterfeit goods, you may also seek customs recordal to intercept infringing imports at the border. Consult an IP attorney for the most appropriate course of action.

A third party can challenge the validity of a registered industrial design by arguing it did not meet the requirements for registration, for example, that it was not new at the time of filing. If successful, the registration is cancelled and the owner loses all exclusive rights. Invalidity challenges are a common defence in infringement proceedings.

File for industrial design registration before product launch, conduct a freedom-to-operate review to avoid infringing existing designs, and consider parallel trademark and patent strategies where the brand identity or underlying technology also merit protection. Launching first and filing later forfeits novelty in most jurisdictions outside the grace-period exceptions.