Software Patents

Question
What are the procedures on patenting software applications for mobile phones in Malaysia?

Answer
We would like to answer your question by explaining the following about software patents in Malaysia:

First of all, it should be noted that the Malaysian patent system generally follows the rulings of the European Patent Office, and its stand on software patents is no different.

Software per se cannot be patented in Malaysia. A simple program or code is unpatentable in that it is considered a mathematical method, and is therefore more suited to protection under Copyright.

However, please note that importantly, when software is combined together with one or more mechanical component(s), the whole can be patented as a system. Accordingly, Agents have been able to patent software when it is being used to provide a material effect of some kind.

With regard to determining the existence in Malaysia, we are able to perform a search for you at the Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO). If you know the exact details of the patent in question, we can conduct an “equivalent search”. If you do not know the details, or are interested to know whether your invention will come into conflict with anything out there in the market, we can perform a much more detailed “Subject Matter” search, to look for anything resembling your software. We would then provide you with a professional opinion as to whether your software will come into conflict (infringe) another patent. The subject matter search is strongly recommended for such matters, as there may be several similar and damaging patents in force that could potentially cause you problems.

To be able to provide you with more comprehensive answer, we would require you to provide us with more details, including the history of the software invention, details on the offending patent, details of the software invention etc.