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Commerce and Industry
growth and development. The commission's four working groups, responsible for transport; convention and exhibition industries and tourism; manufacturing industries, innovative technology, and cultural and creative industries; and professional services, are submitting specific recommendations for these industries progressively for the government's consideration.
Small and Medium Enterprises
Small and medium enterprises are manufacturing businesses that employ fewer than 100 people and non-manufacturing businesses employing fewer than 50 people in Hong Kong. The territory has about 320,000 SMEs, representing over 98 per cent of all local enterprises and employing nearly 1.3 million people. The Trade and Industry Department's funding schemes. help SMEs secure loans from lending institutions, expand export markets and enhance their competitiveness.
Protection of Intellectual Property Rights
Hong Kong maintains a robust regime for protecting intellectual property rights that features comprehensive legislation, convenient registration systems, rigorous enforcement and continuous public education programmes. This has earned the territory a reputation for effective protection of intellectual property.
Registration
The Intellectual Property Department provides electronic services that enable efficient and cost-effective registration and management through the internet. Its registers are maintained in electronic format, allowing free data searches in Chinese or English, while the electronic filing system enables intellectual property owners or agents to file their applications securely.
By using the department's interactive services, owners of intellectual property rights or their agents can make changes directly to certain particulars of their registrations and applications. recorded in the registers. These changes are updated instantly in the registry records. The electronic services have been well received. In 2016, electronically filed trade mark applications accounted for 64 per cent of the total number of trade mark applications, 2 per cent more than the previous year's, while electronic filings for patent and design applications remained at 81 per cent and 77 per cent respectively.
Trade Marks
In 2016, the Trade Marks Registry received 36,181 applications and registered 35,504 marks. The number of registratons was 5.3 per cent fewer than in 2015. Out of the 117 countries and regions that filed applications, the principal ones were:
Hong Kong
Mainland
US
Japan
South Korea
13,336
6,550
3,823
2,350
1,205
France
838
United Kingdom
826
Germany
814
Switzerland
729
British Virgin Islands
582
The register had 382,688 registered marks at the end of the year.
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