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Hong Kong Trade Marks
1. What information is required to file a trade mark application?
a. the applicant’s name and address;
b. the designated goods and/or services;
c. a clear specimen of the applied-for mark; and
d. priority claim details, if any (please refer to Paragraph 3 below).
2. How to classify goods and services?
Goods and services are classified under the Nice Classification and the current edition is the 11th edition. There are 45 classes of goods and services. For details, please refer to the World Intellectual Property Organization's website on the Nice Classification at http://www.wipo.int/classifications/en/.
3. When should a trade mark application be filed in order to claim Convention priority?
The application must be filed within six months from the filing date of the first application filed in a member country to the Paris Convention or World Trade Organization, in order to claim priority at the time the application is filed.
4. How will the Trade Marks Registry examine a trade mark application?
There are four stages in the examination process:
a. deficiency checking;
b. examination against the requirements of the Trade Marks Ordinance;
c. acceptance and publication for opposition; and
d. registration and issuance of a certificate of registration.
5. How long will the entire trade mark application process take?
The entire process will take as short as six months if there is no deficiency and no opposition.
6. What are registration requirements?
A trade mark must comply with the following two requirements in order to be registrable:
a. A trade mark must have a distinctive character in respect of the goods and/or services applied for, i.e. it can
distinguish the applicant’s goods and/or services; and
b. A trade mark cannot be identical or similar to a registered or earlier applied-for mark, in respect of identical or
similar goods or services.
7. What is the duration of a trade mark registration?
The duration of a trade mark registration is 10 years beginning on its filing date.
The registration can be renewed indefinitely for successive periods of 10 years subject to payment of renewal fees.
Hong Kong Patents
1. What can be patented?
A patent refers to a new technical solution proposed for a product, method or its improvement, or a technical solution proposed for the shape, structure or combination of the product.
Any industrial product can be filed as a patent, including daily necessities, machinery, electronics, chemicals, construction, civil engineering, pharmaceuticals, microorganisms, food and beverages, computer software, etc., or the process methods for producing the above products, even including the methods of using the products.
2. What qualifications are required for applicant(s) and inventor(s)?
Applicant(s) and inventor(s) are required for an application. The applicant is the owner of the patent, and individuals, companies, administrative agencies and schools can be the applicant; the inventor is the person who actually created the invention and must be an individual.
The applicant may be changed, in which if the applicant wishes to apply for a Hong Kong patent, but is not the applicant listed in the designated patent application or the priority patent application, a statement together with the relevant supporting documents (such as a copy of the assignment document) must be submitted to explain the right to apply for the patent.
3. In which language should applications be submitted?
Applicants may submit applications in English or in Chinese. Notice and proceedings in the registry relating to one’s patent application or the resulting patent will be written in the language when filing the application.
4. How to claim priority right for a patent?
An applicant files a patent application has the right to file an identical application in another signatory country of the Paris Convention within a certain time frame. For a patent application, the time frame is 12 months from the date of the first filing of the patent application.
5. Should I patent my invention before, or after, publishing details of it?
You need to keep your invention confidential until you file a patent application. Disclosure of your invention before filing may mean that you cannot get a patent because your invention is no longer considered new.
6. I have filed a patent in other countries and mainland China, do I still need to file in Hong Kong?
As intellectual property protection is generally territorial in nature, applying for registration of a patent in Mainland China or elsewhere in the world does not automatically give protection in Hong Kong. If you want to protect your technical in Hong Kong, you should apply a Hong Kong patent application.
7. What should I do if I see my patent being used without my permission?
Patent owners have the right to prevent others from manufacturing, using, selling, or importing the invention. If you see your patent being used without your permission, you should consult agents’ or solicitors' firms specializing in intellectual property practice for seeking professional advice to defend your rights. Generally, a patent owner, or an exclusive licensee in his own name, can bring civil proceedings for infringement. Infringement proceedings can be brought for infringements committed after the date on which the certificate of patent is issued.
8. Can the applicant request to defer the process of a patent?
It is possible to defer the formality examination process of a Standard Patent (Original) and a Short-Term Patent at the Patent Registry for a maximum of 12 months after the filing date of the application. Deferring the process helps to give the applicant more time to obtain the relevant documents, however the grant will be extended.
9. Is a granted Hong Kong patent (Re-registration) affected by post-grant actions relating to the designated
patent?
A granted Hong Kong patent (R) is independent from the designated patent and are not affected by post-grant actions relating to the designated patent. However, if opposition against the granted European patent happens and results in revocation, the granted Hong Kong standard patent will be affected to be revoked in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong Designs
1. What is Design Registration?
A “design” means features of shape, configuration, pattern or ornament applied to an article by any industrial process. The designs of a wide range of products, for example computers, telephones, textiles, jewellery and watches etc., can be protected by Design Registration. A Design registration protects only the appearance of the products, for example the look of a computer monitor, but they do not protect the way in which the products work.
A design registration must be new at the filing date of the application or the priority date in order to be registrable.
It must not been registered for the same or any other article, or published or disclosed elsewhere.
2. What kinds of designs are not registrable?
Under the Registered Designs Ordinance (Cap. 522) and Registered Designs Rules (Cap. 522A), designs that cannot be registered include the following:
(a) Designs in respect of an article if the appearance of the article is not material;
(b) Designs that are contrary to public order or morality;
(c) Computer programs or protected layout-designs (topographies);
(d) Designs applied to certain articles:
(i) works of sculpture (other than casts or models used or intended to be used as models or patterns to be
multiplied by any industrial process);
(ii) wall plaques, medals and medallions; and
(iii) printed matter primarily of a literary or artistic character including book jackets, calendars, certificates,
coupons, dress-making patterns, greeting cards, labels, leaflets, maps, plans, playing cards, postcards,
stamps, trade advertisements, trade forms and cards, transfers and similar articles;
(e) A method or principle of construction;
(f) Features of shape or configuration of an article which are dictated solely by the function which the article has
to perform;
(g) Features of shape or configuration of an article which are dependent upon the appearance of another article of
which it is intended by the designer to form an integral part;
(h) Designs that consist of or contain the national flag, the national emblem or their designs; and
(i) Designs that consist of or contain the regional flag, the regional emblem or their designs without the required
consent.
3. How to claim priority right for Design?
An applicant files a patent application has the right to file an identical application in another signatory country of the Paris Convention within a certain time frame. For a design, the time frame is 6 months from the date of the first filing of the design application.
4. How to classify a design article?
The International Classification of Designs ("the Locarno Classification") published by the World Intellectual Property Organization is adopted for design articles classification. Please refer to the latest edition of the Locarno Classification at http://www.wipo.int/classifications/en
5. Is there any exhibition in which my design can be displayed without losing its novelty before filing an
application to register the design?
Display of your design in an “official international exhibition” as defined in the Registered Designs Ordinance before filing an application to register your design in the Hong Kong SAR will not destroy the novelty of your design provided that an application to register your design is subsequently filed with the Registrar of Designs no later than 6 months after the opening of such exhibition. Please however note that such kind of exhibition is rarely held, that not every exhibition held in the Hong Kong SAR is regarded as an “official international exhibition” in this context, and that you need to double-check the status of the exhibition in which you intend to disclose your design before filing the registered design application.
Contact
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30 Harbour Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong
Tel : (852) 2877 7755
E-mail: liushen@biznetvigator.com
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