Design protection in Hong Kong is achieved by registering the design according to relevant laws and regulations. Owners of registered designs have the right to prevent others from manufacturing, importing, using, selling or hiring out their design products. The design registration system of Hong Kong provides territorial protection. Hence, designs registered with the State Intellectual Property Office of the People’s Republic of China or designs registries of other countries or regions do not automatically receive protection in Hong Kong.
Importance of Design Registration
Registration of the design of your product offers protection of your design by enabling you to stop unauthorized manufacture, import, sale or hiring of your design product in Hong Kong. If you intend to manufacture, import, sell or offer for hire your design product (or license someone else to do so) in Hong Kong, you should register your design in Hong Kong.
As intellectual property protection is generally territorial in nature, applying for registration of a design in Mainland China or elsewhere in the world does not automatically give registered design protection in Hong Kong.
Condition on Applicants
Only the owner of a design is entitled to register a design. An owner may obtain ownership by commissioning the creation of the design, or under an employment contract or by assignment, etc.
Registrable Designs
To be registrable a design must be new at the filing date of the application, or the priority date (if claimed). A design is new if :
(1) it has not been previously registered for the same or any other article, or
(2) it has not been previously published or disclosed in the HKSAR or elsewhere.
Disclosure of a design before filing an application may destroy its novelty. As a result, the registration may be invalid because the design is not new. This means that to obtain a valid registration, the design owner should apply for registration before marketing the designed product in the HKSAR or anywhere else in the world.
Information Required
Basically, you need to provide the following information to file the application for design registration:
1. A request for registration of the design;
2. A statement of novelty;
3. A representation of the design suitable for reproduction;
4. Applicant's name and address.
Procedures for Registration of Designs
You need to file an application with the Designs Registry of the Intellectual Property Department, HKSAR Government. You may need to consult agents’ or solicitors' firms specializing in intellectual property practice for professional advice on filing your application.
Shortly after receiving the application, the IPD will send a notice to the applicant or the agent, giving the filing date of the application. After giving the filing date, it comes the examination of the formalities of the application. There is no substantive examination of the application and the Designs Registry does not search records of prior registered designs.
If an application is in order, we will register the design, publish the registration in the Hong Kong Intellectual Property Journal and issue a certificate of registration. Usually a certificate of registration can be issued within three months after an application is filed.
Contact Us
If you have further queries, don’t hesitate to contact Tannet anytime, anywhere by simply visiting Tannet’s website english.tannet-group.com, or calling Hong Kong hotline at 852-27826888 or China hotline at 86-755-82143512, or emailing to tannet-solution@hotmail.com. You are also welcome to visit our office situated in 16/F, Taiyangdao Bldg 2020, Dongmen Rd South, Luohu, Shenzhen, China.
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