Hong Kong’s intellectual property laws can be found in the Bilingual Laws Information System (BLIS) of the Hong Kong Department of Justice. These include:

Trademark:

A trademark is a sign used to identify the goods and services of different merchants. A trademark may consist of words (including personal names), signs, designs, letters, words, numbers, graphic elements, colors, sounds, smells, the shape of goods or their packaging, and any combination of the above signs. Only a mark that can be expressed in writing or drawing can be registered as a trademark.

Patent:

As a patent owner, you can protect the invention by exercising the legal rights granted by the patent to prohibit others from making, using, selling or importing your patented invention.

Designs:

Designs can be registered for a variety of products, including computers, telephones, compact disc players, textiles, jewelry and watches. Registered designs only protect the appearance of a product, such as the appearance of a computer monitor. Registration of a design does not protect the manner in which the designed product operates. The way a product works is protected by patent laws, and computer software is protected by copyright laws.

The owner of a registered design has the right to prevent others from making, importing, using, selling or leasing the design.

Registered design protection is valid for a maximum of 25 years and is renewed every five years.

Copyright:

Generally speaking, copyright is a right given to the owner of an original work, and can exist in literary works (such as books and computer software), musical works (such as composed music) , dramatic works (such as stage plays), artistic works (such as paintings, drawings and sculptures), sound recordings, films, broadcasts, cable programs and the typography and arrangement of published versions of literary, dramatic and musical works, and performers performances, etc. Copyrighted works transmitted over the Internet are also protected.

In fact, copyrighted works may not necessarily be of artistic value, originality or creativity. Even something as simple as an ordinary photo of life can be copyrighted.

Copyright is an automatic right. Once the creation is completed, the copyright belongs to the work. The difference between copyright and other types of intellectual property rights such as patents, trademarks and industrial designs is that copyright does not need to be registered in Hong Kong and can be protected by Hong Kong law. In fact, there is no official registry for copyright works in Hong Kong.

Trade secrets (undisclosed business information)

The details of the invention must be disclosed when applying for a patent. In other words, the details of the invention patent cannot be kept confidential and become trade secrets and undisclosed business information. As mentioned above, patents enjoy limited-term protection, but trade secrets and undisclosed business information can continue as long as the relevant information remains confidential.

Copyright only protects the manner in which ideas and data are expressed, not the ideas and data themselves. The law of confidentiality protects the content of ideas and information, regardless of how they are expressed. For copyright-protected works, the law has permissible behaviors, but statutory permissible behaviors do not apply to works protected by confidentiality laws.

The above only lists some basic principles regarding trade secrets and undisclosed business information. Please seek independent professional advice to protect your trade secrets and undisclosed business information.

Layout design of integrated circuits (topology)

Layout design of integrated circuits (topology)

Layout design of integrated circuits ( Topography) Ordinance (Chapter 445)

Plant Variety Protection

Plant Variety Protection Ordinance (Chapter 490)

Plant Variety Protection (Plant Breeders rights)