in
.n
d
'n
ît
n
3.
n
☺ ☺
¡e
le
d
e
200 = 32
g
d
r
European Patent Convention (EPC)
European Patent Office (EPO)
European Patent
the (United Kingdom) (EP(UK))
Examination
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)
Designs may be protected by law in Hong Kong. Registration of a design in the United Kingdom is effective to protect the design in Hong Kong by virtue of the United Kingdom Designs Protection Ordinance (Cap 44). Section 2 of that Ordinance grants to the proprietor of a design registered in the United Kingdom the same privileges and rights as though the certificate of registration had been issued with an extension to Hong Kong. Registration confers on the proprietor for a period of 25 years a number of exclusive rights over the design (or a design not substantially different from it).
The Convention on the Grant of European Patents, which established the European Patent Office (EPO). Any patent granted by the EPO is called a "European patent". Applicants designate the countries in which protection is sought and the European Patent is extended to these countries on grant by execution of certain formalities, e.g. the filing of translations. The European patent effectively then becomes a national patent in each designated State, and has the same legal effect in the country for which it is designated as a national patent of that country.
The office set up under the European Patent Convention to search, examine and grant patents lodged with the office under the Convention.
A European Patent designating the United Kingdom and having same legal effect in the UK as a United Kingdom patent.
Before grant and after search, a patent is examined by an examining authority to ensure that it meets the standards of patentability which the system requires.
Substantive examination usually involves considering whether the invention is novel, involves an inventive step and is capable of being industrially applied.
The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is a multilateral on Tarrifs and Trade (GATT) treaty, subscribed to by 103 governments which together account for about 90 per cent of world trade. Its basic aim is to liberalize world trade and place it on a secure basis, thereby contributing to economic growth and development and to the welfare of the world's peoples. Hong Kong has been a contracting party to GATT since 1986.
221