Commerce and Industry
Small and Medium Enterprises
SMEs are manufacturing businesses that employ fewer than 100 people and non- manufacturing businesses employing fewer than 50 people in Hong Kong. There are about 330,000 SMEs, representing over 98 per cent of all local enterprises and employing over 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. During the year, 66 per cent, 83 per cent and 80 per cent of applications for trade marks, patents and designs respectively were filed electronically.
Trade Marks
In 2017, the Trade Marks Registry received 37,630 applications and registered 35,488 marks. The number of new registrations was very close to that in 2016. Out of the 116 countries and regions that filed applications, the principal ones were:
Hong Kong
14,509
Mainland
6,758
US
3,720
Japan
2,524
South Korea
1,050
UK
886
France
808
Germany
720
Switzerland
714
Taiwan
692
The register had 402,099 registered marks at the end of the year.
The government will amend the Trade Marks Ordinance to pave the way for implementing in Hong Kong an international registration system under the Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks.
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