In conjunction with World Intellectual Property Day, the Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO) announced Malaysia’s first National Depositary Authority at the 2024 National Intellectual Property Day Awards Ceremony.
 
The Microbial Culture Collection Unit of Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM-MCC) has been appointed as Malaysia’s first National Depositary Authority pursuant to the Patents (National Depositary Authority) Regulations 2022, effective from 27 March 2024.
 
As a brief overview, pursuant to Section 26C of the Patents Act 1983, applicants of patents for inventions involving a micro-organism which is not available to the public and which cannot be described in the application in such a manner as to enable the invention to be carried out by a person having ordinary skill in the art, must deposit a sample of the micro-organism with a National Depositary Authority or International Depositary Authority no later than the filing date of the patent application.
 
With the appointment of UPM-MCC as Malaysia’s first National Depositary Authority, applicants of patents for inventions involving micro-organisms may now deposit a sample of their micro-organism with UPM-MCC to comply with Section 26C of the Patents Act 1983.
 
Alert by Charmayne Ong, Partner and Head of the Intellectual Property Practice of Skrine.