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operation of the proposed patent legislation (paragraphs 10.51, 10.54 to 10.56). Patents already registered under Hong Kong's present system and which are still in force, will continue under the provisions of the new law (paragraph 10.53).
The need for a petty patent system
1.29.
Hong Kong businesses make many products which are intended for the fast changing market (paragraphs 11.36, 11.37). These short-term products are of significant economic value yet they do not benefit from the protection offered by a patent. This is because the time taken to obtain a patent is in many cases longer than the commercial life of the product requiring protection. Short-term products need protection quickly. Even if the patent could be obtained more quickly, the high cost of obtaining it would not be justified in many cases: the product does not need protection for as long as the twenty-year term of a patent (paragraphs 11.1 to 11.7).
1.30.
Short-term products may attract some protection under other intellectual property laws that protect the form or shape of a product. If the form of the product is copied more or less exactly, Hong Kong's law of copyright and registered design law provide remedies against the infringer (paragraphs 11.8 to 11.18). An unregistered design right, such as the right introduced by the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 in the United Kingdom but not in Hong Kong, could similarly assist (paragraphs 11.19 to 11.25). However, if the underlying idea of the product can be taken without copying the shape of the product as a whole, the owner can have protection only by patenting his idea (paragraphs 11.26 to 11.28).
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Hong Kong's short-term products need protection quickly. Furthermore, they need patent-like protection because other forms of intellectual property protection protect only against slavish copying. A petty patent, like a patent, protects an invention so that the idea underlying the product is protected in the various forms in which it may be applied. A petty patent has a shorter term than a patent and it has the advantage that it is usually not as difficult or expensive to obtain (paragraphs 11.7, 11.39 to 11.43).
1.32.
Other advantages in having a petty patent system are that it would give the applicant immediate protection in Hong Kong and a right to priority under the Paris Convention when he seeks patents or petty patents abroad in countries where he intends to market his product (paragraphs 11.38, 11.44, 13.10). It would also be a way of having interim protection while the grant of a full patent was pending (paragraph 11.44). In addition, inexpensive and quick protection would be attractive to investors (paragraph 11.45).
Options for a petty patents system
1.33.
A registration system, which by its nature must require the applicant to obtain a patent elsewhere before registering it in Hong Kong, would negate the object of having quick protection for short-term products (paragraphs 12.2, 13.3). The same arguments which militate against a system of examination and original grant of patents in Hong Kong apply also to petty patents. Whether the work of examination is undertaken in Hong Kong or is
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