In Hong Kong, there are two kinds of patent, namely standard patent and short-term patent. Also in Hong Kong a design could be registered.
1.Standard Patent
Standard patent application is filed under a 2 stage registration system based on a designated patent application as follows:
Stage 1 – Applicant with a designated patent application filed at EP, UK, or Chinese patent office can file a request to record application for a standard patent in Hong Kong. A request to record application must be filed at the Hong Kong Patents Registry within 6 months from the publication of the designated patent application.
After filing, application will be published in the official gazette within about 6 months. If applicant cannot proceed to the Stage 2 (as below) within the 5th anniversary of the application, maintenance fee would have to be paid annually thereafter.
Stage 2 – Applicant should file a request for grant within 6 months from publication of the granted designated patent. After filing, the Hong Kong patents registry will publish the patent as granted and issue a Certificate.
Renewal fee would have to be paid annually from the 3rd anniversary of the granted patent. The term of standard patent is 20 years counting from the filing date of the designated patent.
2.Short-term Patent
Short-term patent application can be filed directly at the Hong Kong Patents Registry without an earlier foreign application. There is no substantive examination and a short-term patent which is valid for 8 years from the filing date will be granted after passing formality examination. Renewal fee would have to be paid prior to the 4th anniversary year for an extended period of 4 years.
Short-term patent can only contain one independent claim.
3.Registered Design
The Hong Kong Designs Registry allows a single application to include several designs if the designs relate to the same class of articles or relate to the same set of articles according to Locarno Classification. After registration, renewal fee would have to be paid separately for each design in the application prior to the 5th , 10th , 15th , and 20th anniversary years. The term of registered design is 25 years from the filing date.
