PART VI - APPLICATION, PROCEDURE FOR GRANT AND DURATION
Section 29A. Request for substantive examination or modified substantive examination.
(1) If an application for a patent has been examined under section 29 and is not withdrawn or refused, the applicant shall file, within the prescribed period, a request for a substantive examination of the application.
(2) If a patent or other title of industrial property protection has been granted to the applicant or his predecessor in title in a prescribed country outside Malaysia or under a prescribed treaty or Convention for an invention which is the same or essentially the same as the invention claimed in the application, the applicant may, instead of requesting for a substantive examination, request for a modified substantive examination.
(3) A request for a substantive examination or a modified substantive examination shall be made in the prescribed form and shall not be deemed to have been filed until the prescribed fee has been paid to the Registrar and any other prescribed requirement has been complied with.
(4) The Registrar may require the applicant to provide, at the time of filing a request for a substantive examination -
(a) any prescribed information or prescribed supporting document concerning the filing of any application for a patent or other title of industrial property protection filed outside Malaysia by such applicant or his predecessor in title with a national, regional or international industrial property office;
(b) any prescribed information concerning the results of any search or examination carried out by an International Searching Authority under the Patent Cooperation Treaty, relating to the same or essentially the same invention as that claimed in the application for which the request for a substantive examination is being filed.
(5) If the applicant -
(a) fails to file either a request under subsection (1) for a substantive examination or a request under subsection (2) for a modified substantive examination; or
(b) fails to provide the information or document referred to in subsection (4) as required by the Registrar,
within the prescribed period, the application for a patent shall, subject to subsection (6), be deemed to be withdrawn at the end of that period.
(6) Notwithstanding subsection (5), the Registrar may, upon the request of the applicant, grant a deferment of the filing of a request for examination referred to in subsection (1) or (2) or a deferment of the provision of the information or document referred to in subsection (4), and such deferment may be granted only on the grounds that -
(a) the patent or title referred to in subsection (2) has not been granted or is not available; or
(b) the information or document referred to in subsection (4) would not be available,
by the expiration of the prescribed period for the filing of a request under subsection (1) or (2).
(7) No deferment shall be granted under subsection (6) unless the request for such deferment is filed before the expiration of the prescribed period for the filing of a request under subsection (1) or (2) and no deferment may be sought nor granted for a period greater than that prescribed in the regulations made under this Act.
(8) Without prejudice to the power of the Registrar to grant a deferment, the period prescribed for the purposes of this section may not be extended under the provisions of section 82.