The Hong Kong special administrative region has standard patents, short term patents and designs, which are audited by the Hong Kong intellectual property department.
The standard patent may be renewed once a year after the expiry of the third year for a period of up to 20 years.Short-term patents can be renewed four years from the date of filing and have a validity period of up to eight years.
Applications may be submitted in Chinese or English.The patent application form is available in both Chinese and English.If the application is completed in Chinese, any legal proceedings in respect of the patent application or subsequent grant will also be conducted in Chinese.If the application is completed in English, any legal proceedings in respect of the patent application or subsequent grant will also be conducted in English.
Standard patent application:
In Hong Kong, China, standard patents are granted on the basis of patent registrations granted by the following three patent offices (called "designated patent authorities")
State intellectual property office of the People's Republic of China
European Patent Office (for patents designating the United Kingdom)
United Kingdom Patent Office
The procedure for applying for a standard patent in Hong Kong, China is divided into two stages
Requests for records of designated patent applications, which refer to patent applications published in the state intellectual property office of the People's Republic of China, the European Patent Office (designated United Kingdom) or the United Kingdom Patent Office (stage 1);
Application for registration and grant in Hong Kong for patents granted by the state intellectual property office of the People's Republic of China, the European Patent Office (designated United Kingdom) or the United Kingdom Patent Office (stage 2).
Apply for short-term patent:
The grant of short-term patents in Hong Kong, China is based on the inspection report (novelty search report) prepared by one of the international inspection authorities or one of the designated patent authorities.In support of short-term patent applications, one of the following inspection reports was issued by the inspection authorities
International inspection authorities appointed under article 16 of the patent cooperation treaty;
State intellectual property office of the People's Republic of China;
European Patent Office;
United Kingdom Patent Office.
Registered design:
Registered designs only protect the appearance of products, such as computer monitors.Registration of designs does not protect the way in which designs are to be operated.Products are protected by patent law while computer software is protected by copyright law.
The owner of a registered design shall have the right to prevent other persons from making, importing, using, selling or renting its design products.
The protection of registered designs shall be valid for up to 25 years and renewed every five years