Hong Kong Patent Application
Patents are the exclusive rights granted to inventors for their novel and inventive inventions. As long as they can be used for industrial applications and are not in the excluded category, they can be registered as patents in Hong Kong. If you are a patent owner, you can exercise the legal rights granted to you by the patent to prohibit others from making, using, selling or importing your patented invention, thereby protecting your invention.
Starting from December 19, 2019, the Intellectual Property Department has implemented a new patent application system. The transcription and original grant patent systems have been changed to proceed simultaneously, mainly to implement the original grant standard patent system, optimize the current short-term patent system, and implement a temporary rule Administrative measures to prohibit anyone from using confusing or misleading titles and descriptions related to patent practice in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Applicants can choose the appropriate patent system to apply.
The examination procedure of a short-term patent application consists of the following stages:
The first stage: the review for the application to set the submission date
The second stage: review of the formal requirements for the application
The third stage: the patent is granted and published
Short-term patents can be applied for directly in Hong Kong, but a search report issued by one of the following authorities must be submitted:
China State Intellectual Property Office
European Patent Office
British Patent Office
All international search offices appointed by the Patent Cooperation Treaty (such as the United States, Japan, South Korea, Spain, etc.)
Original Grant Standard Patent
Stage 1: Set a submission date for the application to review
The second stage: review of the formal requirements for the application
Stage 3: Application is published
The fourth stage: Substantive examination of the application
Stage 5: Application result: The patent is granted and published, and the Registrar makes the final decision/rejects the grant of the patent
Transcription standard patent
The grant of transcription standard patents is based on the registration of patents granted by the following three patent offices (referred to as "designated patent offices"):
State Intellectual Property Office of the P.R.C
European Patent Office (for patents designating the United Kingdom)
United Kingdom Patent Office
Applicants need to file a patent application in the above three patent offices first, and submit a transcription standard patent application in Hong Kong within the following deadline.
The transcription of standard patents needs to be carried out in two stages:
The first stage: Record the request for the designated patent application-within 6 months after the designated patent office publishes the patent application, submit the request for recording
The second stage: registration and grant request-within 6 months after the designated patent office grants the designated patent or at the latest within 6 months of the request for publication of the application in Hong Kong, submit the request for registration and grant