I thought… “This invention would not qualify for a patent”
In fact, more than 90% of patents granted in the major patent offices of the world such as USPTO, EPO, JPO relate to products or processes with new features which are more improvements or modifications to existing products or processes. As such, these patents are referred to as improvement patents. Less than 10% of patents are granted for major breakthroughs in technology.
As long as the changes or modifications that you have made are not obvious, the changes made would qualify for a patent.
But in Malaysia all is not lost, if the changes, modifications or improvements has been made are only novel (new) but obvious, you can still obtain some protection under our Patents Act. A Certificate for Utility Innovation (CUI) is provided for in our Patents Act for product innovation when the feature claimed is novel, though obvious to another person in the same field of technology. A CUI gives similar protection as that of a regular patent.
Consult an experienced patent agent to see whether the novel change you have introduced into your product would qualify for a patent or a CUI. Happy inventing!
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