Filling Of An Improvement Of An Initial Application In Malaysia

Question 1
Suppose if any inventor come up with an improvement over already applied application and the applied application acts as a citable prior-art for improve invention by means of barring the novelty feature, then how inventor will proceed for filing application in Malaysia?

Answer 1
If the applicant has filed a non-provisional application in US, and later filed for continuation in part (CIP), which is an improvement from the initial application, the applicant can file the application in Malaysia subject to the 2 scenarios below:

Scenario 1: No added subject matter
Provided the improvement does not go beyond the original disclosure of the already applied application in Malaysia (parent application), the applicant may file a divisional application (encompassing the improvements). However, this divisional application must be filed within 3 months from the first Office Action or anytime before the issuance of the Office Action.

Scenario 2: Added subject matter
Should the improvement have added subject matter and goes beyond the original disclosure of the already applied application, the applicant may file a fresh application claiming priority of the CIP application filed in US.