UNCLASSIFIED
065742
MDLIAN 8421
11)
UNCLASSIFIED
FM PEKING
TO ROUTINE FCO
TELNO 1296
OF 210838Z SEPTEMBER 93
AND TO ROUTINE HONG KONG, DTI
FCO FOR FED, HKD
DTI FOR XAAA/2D
370/20
TOP COPY Q DIST?
CALL BY COMPTROLLER GENERAL OF PATENT OFFICE : 16 SEPTEMBER
Summary
1.
Comptroller General of UK Patent Office calls on Embassy for briefing. Discusses China's accession to Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), proposed Hong Kong Patent Law, possible establishment of Hong Kong Receiving Office, and steps to extend UK/China collaboration over patents.
Detail
2. Paul Hartnack, Comptroller General of the UK Patent Office, called on me on 16 September. He had been in Peking to attend a ceremony marking China's accession to PCT, and an associated international symposium. China formally accedes to PCT on 1 January 1994. PCT is the responsibility of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), based in Geneva.
PCT
3.
Hartnack said he had been impressed by the general level of sophistication of China's Patent Law. But there were areas of potential difficulty. One was the question of how impartially Chinese courts would interpret the Law. It remained to be seen whether a foreign plaintiff would be allowed to win a case against
The other a Chinese entity, however unanswerable that might be. question was whether the Chinese would use compulsory licensing of patents held by foreign companies in China.
4. Hartnack believed that the application of the terms of PCT cut
An out much of the bureaucracy involved in filing patents. applicant had simply to fill out a form at WIPO, ticking the
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