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Bunker
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4.
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giving the inventor a monopoly to exploit the commercial
advantages of his idea, the grant of patent rights provides
because the patent has the effect of
an
incentive to the inventor to market the invention to
general benefit of the community, and an encouragement
the
to others to
follow suit and develop, protect and exploit their marketable
ideas.
5.
Secondly and more importantly, since a patent is
granted only on condition that a detailed description of
the invention is lodged at the time of applying for the
patent and on the understanding that that description, or
specification, will be published, a centralised library of
primary technical information is established from which the
state of the art in any field of technological endeavour
may readily be accertained.
Wpianist
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6.
To what extent the patent system as a fount of
technical information benefits the community depends entirely
on the extent to which patents are applied for and granted.
If the system does not provide what inventors or innovators
require, they will not apply for patents. If applications
are not made, the information they would contain is not made
available to the public.
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The present system
7.
Hong Kong has never granted patents. Instead it
allows anyone who has been granted a patent in the United
/Kingdom
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Kingdom to register that patent here. The application
for registration must be accompanied by the specification.
Upon registration a certificate is granted. The certificate
confers on the applicant "privileges and rights, subject to
all conditions established by the law of Hong Kong, as though
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the patent had been granted in the United Kingdom with an extension to Hong Kong. What that provision is intended to achieve is the application in Hong Kong of the patent law of the United
Kingdom.
8.
The registration of UK patents was introduced
here in 1932, as it was in most other parts of the British
Empire. Its effect was to give the certificate holder the
right to prevent others from making, using or marketing
copies of his invention in Hong Kong. In exchange the
certificate holder made available to the public in Hong Kong
the specification of his invention.
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9.
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The effects of the present system
An inventor from anywhere in the world who obtains
a UK paten and registers it in Hong Kong can sue in the
Hong Kong courts anyone who infringes his patent by manu-
facturing, using or marketing copies of the patented invention
in Hong Kong. For example the American owner of a UK patent
registered in Hong Kong can protect his patent by taking
proceedings in Hong Kong against a Hong Kong manufacturer
who is making a product that infringes the patent. To the
patent owner that course has the advantage of preventing
/infringment
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infringment at
at the point of manufacture rather than in the
numerous markets
in which the infringing product is sold.
10.
The local manufacturer does however have in Hong
Kong a source of primary technological information. The
extent to which that is a benefit to him is considered later
in this paper.
Is the system of registration used, who uses it and why?
11.
In the 10 years from 1974/75 to 1983/84 7,243 UK
patents were registered in Hong Kong. Of that number,
171 (2.36%) were registered by patentees domiciled in Hong
Kong. The largest number were registered by patentees
domiciled in the United States (2,552 (35.3%)), followed by
Japan (1,353 (18.7%)), the United Kingdom (990 (13.7%)),
West Germany (623 (8.6%)), Switzerland (552 (7.6%)), the
Netherlands (204 (2.8%)) and France (174 (2.4%)). Over
the same period 39 other countries registered UK patents here.
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KURO VASAR
12.
Since registration in Hong Kong is simple, quick
and cheap, it is reasonable to assume that one reason why
foreign owners of UK patents register them here is that
registration in Hong Kong forms part of the owner's plan
to protect his invention in as many parts of the world as
possible. The Hong Kong domestic market is however very
small compared to markets abroad. It is therefore unlikely
/that
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