Industrial Designs Act 1996 · Updated to 1 Jan 2013 · Part III · Registration of Industrial Design
12. Registrable industrial design
Feedback & supportSubject to this Act, an industrial design shall not be registered unless it is new.
industrial design
“industrial design” means features of shape, configuration, pattern or ornament applied to an article by any industrial process or means, being features which in the finished article appeal to and are judged by the eye, but does not include— (a) a method or principle of construction; or (b) features of shape or configuration of an article which — (i) are dictated solely by the function which the article has to perform; or (ii) are dependent upon the appearance of another article Industrial Designs 9 of which the article is intended by the author of the design to form an integral part;
An industrial design for which an application for registration is made shall not be considered to be new if, before the priority date of that application, it or an industrial design differing from it only in immaterial details or in features commonly used in the relevant trade—
was disclosed to the public anywhere in Malaysia; or
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 in so far as that subject matter was included in a registration granted on the basis of that other application.
For the purposes of paragraph (2)(a), an industrial design shall not be deemed to have been disclosed to the public solely by reason of the fact that, within the period of six months preceding the filing date of an application for registration—
it appeared in an official or officially recognized exhibition;
or
it has been disclosed by a person other than the applicant or
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his predecessor in title as a result of an unlawful act committed by that other person or another person.