# Registering a Trademark with MyIPO

> How trademark registration works under the Trademarks Act 2019 — multi-class filing, the opposition window, what it costs, and why a foreign applicant cannot file alone.

- Category: business
- Language: en
- Status: published
- Updated: 2026-07-20
- Canonical: https://negaraku.md/en/business/trademark-registration-malaysia

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Reserving a company name at SSM protects nothing. It stops another company being
incorporated under a confusingly similar name — it does not stop anyone selling
goods under your brand, and it gives you nothing to hand a marketplace takedown
team. That is what a trademark is for, and the two registers have nothing to do
with each other.

## What changed when the Trademarks Act 2019 came in?

The Trademarks Act 2019 (Act 815) and the Madrid Protocol both took effect for
Malaysia on **27 December 2019**. Three changes matter commercially.

**Multi-class filing.** Section 18(1) allows a single application listing goods
or services in several classes. Under the repealed Trade Marks Act 1976 each
class needed its own application and its own file. Note what this does *not*
change: the fee is still charged **per class**, so the saving is administrative,
not financial.

**Non-traditional marks.** MyIPO's fee schedule now has entries for shape of
goods or packaging, sound, scent, hologram, positioning, sequence of motion and
colour, all at the same per-class fee as an ordinary mark.

**Madrid access.** A Malaysian applicant can now use MyIPO as office of origin
to extend a mark abroad through one WIPO filing, and foreign owners can
designate Malaysia in an international registration instead of filing here
nationally.

## What does it cost?

Every figure below is from MyIPO's own fee schedule under the Trademarks
Regulations 2019.

| Matter | Fee code | Fee |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Application, per class, using the pre-approved goods and services list | TMA2A | RM950 |
| Application, per class, own wording | TMA2B | RM1,100 |
| Series mark, second and each subsequent mark (max six) | TMA2C | RM50 |
| Preliminary advice and search, per class | TMA1 | RM250 |
| Expedited examination, per class | TMA4 | RM1,000 |
| Notice of opposition, per class | TMD1 | RM950 |
| Counterstatement, per class | TMD6 | RM350 |
| Renewal, per class | TME1 | RM1,000 |
| Certificate of registration | TMJ4 | RM50 |
| Recording an assignment or transmission | TMH1 | RM300 |
| Handling fee for a Madrid international application | TMMP1 | RM200 |

There is no separate registration fee — the per-class filing fee carries the
mark through to registration, and the paper certificate is an optional RM50.

**One correction worth making.** The Trademarks (Reduction of Fee) Regulations
2025 [P.U. (A) 315/2025] cut the per-class application fee by RM300, but only
for over-the-counter filings by applicants meeting criteria in the Registrar's
practice directions, and **only from 1 September to 31 December 2025**. Any
guide quoting RM650 as the current fee is quoting a lapsed promotion.

## How long does it actually take?

Here is the honest position: **MyIPO does not publish a standard end-to-end
processing time for a normal application.** The 12-month, 18-month and 24-month
figures that circulate on advisory sites cannot be traced to any MyIPO
document. What MyIPO does publish are the fixed periods and one processing
figure, so build your expectation from those.

| Stage | Period | Source |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Respond to a provisional refusal on formalities | 2 months from the notice | Reg 14(1) |
| Extension of that period | 1 month, on Form TMK1 and TMK3 | Reg 14(4) |
| Publication of an accepted mark, and the opposition window | 2 months | s.35 |
| File a counterstatement to an opposition | 2 months from receipt | s.35(4) |
| Request written grounds of a total refusal | 2 months, no extension | Reg 15(2) |
| Appeal to court from the grounds of decision | 1 month, extendable by 2 | Ch 2, Examination Manual |
| **Expedited examination, filing to registration** | **about 4 months 2 weeks** | Ch 1.21, Examination Manual |

Marks are published for opposition every Thursday in the Intellectual Property
Official Journal. The variable that nobody can quote you is the queue between
formality clearance and substantive examination.

Expedited examination is available on Form TMA4 at RM1,000 per class, but only
for the listed mark types and only with a stated reason: national or public
interest, ongoing or potential infringement, a government or institutional
funding requirement, or another reasonable ground such as an urgent business
need. If the examiner raises a substantive objection — similarity or lack of
distinctiveness — the application loses its expedited status and rejoins the
normal queue. You do not get the fee back.

## Why does registration date back to filing?

Section 36(1) registers the mark "as at the date of filing of application for
registration", and deems that date to be the date of registration. Two practical
consequences: your ten-year term is measured from filing, not from the
certificate, and your priority against a later applicant is fixed on the day you
file. This is why filing early is worth more than filing perfectly.

## What if the applicant is foreign?

Section 95(2) is blunt. A person appearing before the Registrar, applying for
registration, or dealing with a registered mark, who **does not reside or carry
on business principally in Malaysia**, shall appoint and authorise a registered
trademark agent. Section 151(6) says the same thing from the address-for-service
side, and s.151(5) lets the Registrar refuse to proceed where no address for
service is furnished.

The test is residence or principal place of business, not nationality and not
shareholding. A Malaysian-incorporated Sdn Bhd carrying on business here files
in its own name whoever owns it. A Singapore parent filing in its own name needs
an agent, even if its Malaysian subsidiary could have filed without one.

The agent's address for service becomes the address on the register for all
proceedings, which is the part foreign applicants underestimate: if the agent
relationship lapses, deadlines are being served somewhere you are not reading.

## National filing or Madrid designation?

If you are a foreign owner already holding a home registration, designating
Malaysia through Madrid avoids appointing a Malaysian agent at the filing stage.
But the moment MyIPO issues a provisional refusal or someone opposes, you are in
proceedings before the Registrar — and s.95(2) applies. The opposition period for
an international registration designating Malaysia is the same two months, and
the holder then has two months to file a counterstatement.

If you are Malaysian and want protection abroad, Madrid works the other way: you
need a Malaysian basic application or registration first, the international
application must be the same mark with the same or narrower goods and services,
and you must be a citizen, domiciled here, incorporated here, or have a real and
effective industrial or commercial establishment here. MyIPO charges RM200 to
handle it; WIPO's basic fee, complementary fees and supplementary fees are paid
to WIPO in Swiss francs.

## Common mistakes

**Treating an SSM name reservation as brand protection.** They are different
registers with different tests, run by different agencies. A name approval is not
evidence of a right to use a mark.

**Claiming the whole class heading.** MyIPO expressly discourages listing an
entire class heading. Class headings are general indications and may not cover
what you actually sell — itemise. Using MyIPO's pre-approved list also drops the
fee from RM1,100 to RM950 per class.

**Filing after launch and assuming it is fine.** Trademark law is more forgiving
of prior use than design law, but a competitor who files first still gets the
earlier filing date under s.36(1), and you are then arguing about earlier rights
instead of relying on a register entry.

**Assuming multi-class filing is cheaper.** It is one file, not one fee. Five
classes is five times RM950.

**Missing renewal and assuming there is a long grace.** Six months late at
RM1,200 per class, then six months of restoration at RM1,500 per class, and after
that the registration ceases and — under s.40 — someone else may apply for the
mark.

## What's next

Work out your classes and your exact goods and services wording before you look
at price, because the class count drives the whole cost. Then decide whether the
mark needs to travel: if it does, the Malaysian filing has to come first, because
Madrid needs a basic mark.

## Sources

- Trademarks Act 2019 (Act 815) — https://www.myipo.gov.my/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Trademarks-Act-2019-Act-815.pdf (MyIPO)
- Trademark Forms and Fees (Trademarks Act 2019) — https://www.myipo.gov.my/trademark-forms-and-fees/ (MyIPO)
- Applying for a Trademark — filing, Madrid System and classification — https://www.myipo.gov.my/applying-for-a-trademark/ (MyIPO)
- Trademark Examination Manual, Chapter 1 — Apply for the trademarks — https://www.myipo.gov.my/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Chapter-1-Apply-for-the-trademarks.pdf (MyIPO)
- Trademark Examination Manual, Chapter 2 — Formality Examination — https://www.myipo.gov.my/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Chapter-2-Formality-Examination-of-trademark.pdf (MyIPO)
- Trademark Examination Manual, Chapter 10 — Acceptance, Publication and Registration — https://www.myipo.gov.my/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Chapter-10-Acceptance-Publication-and-Registration.pdf (MyIPO)
- Trademarks (Reduction of Fee) Regulations 2025, P.U. (A) 315/2025 — https://lom.agc.gov.my/ilims/upload/portal/akta/outputp/3050811/PUA%20315.pdf (Attorney General's Chambers)

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