Hong Kong Patent Service
Hotline: 86-755-82143422 Email: anitayao@citilinkia.com
Hong Kong Patent Types
Hong Kong has 2 types of patents: standard patent and short-term patent, both are used for protecting new invention, utilities, functional features, structures, processes, improvements, etc.The longest period of protection for standard patent is 20 years (subject to annual renewal, 1st to 3rd year excepting).The maximum term of protection for short-term patent is 8 years (subject to renewal for the 2nd four years before the expiry of the 1st four years).
Patents do not protect the appearance of products, shape of design, pattern, decoration or visual aesthetics. To protect the exterior design features, application for registered design and the use of copyright will be needed.
Hong Kong Patent Requirements
In order to obtain a valid patent, the invention must be novel, possess inventive step and capable of mass productive application. New invention must be kept confidential and should only be disclosed to others (eg. prototype manufacturer) under a contract containing a confidentiality clause. If a new invention prior to its filing date or priority date claimed in its Hong Kong application is already part of existing technology or has been exposed, exhibited, published or other disclosed to the public, then the invention may have lost its novelty. If a new invention is neither obvious to or foreseeable by a person skilled in the related technology after looking at the current state of the arts in that field, then that new invention can be seen as possessing inventive step.
Hong Kong examiners will only perform a formality examination, and he or she usually will not make any search for prior patents or prior arts. Hence, the grant and issuance of patent certificate is not in anyway a confirmation on the question of novelty or inventive step, especially in relation to short-term patent.
Upon filing, the invented product can start to be marketed. However, after such exposure to the public or after the publication of the patent application anywhere, most further filing in additional foreign countries must be made within 12 months of filing date of the first ever application with a claim for Paris Convention or WTO priority. The alternative is to organize the applications to be filed on the same date. Moreover, if the applicant wishes to bring forth the date of evaluating the novelty to the earliest filing date, then Convention priority should also be claimed.Foreign company or individual can apply for Hong Kong patents without nationality restriction or residency requirement.
Contact Us
For further queries, please do not hesitate to contact ATAHK at anytime, anywhere by simply calling China hotline at 86-755-82143422, 86-755-82143512, or emailing to anitayao@citilinkia.com.