Registering a Trademark with MyIPO

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 Under the repealed Trade Marks Act 1976 each class needed its own application and its own file.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.