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.

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.

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.

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.