XN000022-1997-01-09 — Page 4

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Among the main features of the ordinance are new copyright piracy offence provisions to help tackle masterminds of cross-border piracy activities more effectively.

A Patents Bill which establishes an independent patent system in Hong Kong for the protection of inventions in line with international standards, was introduced into the Legislative Council in June last year.

In addition, three bills, namely, Copyright Bill, Registered Designs Bill and Trademarks Bill, had been drafted.

"Over 70 submissions had been received on the Copyright Bill when the consultation closed in November. We are particularly concerned to ensure that Customs has sufficient powers to enforce effectively against copyright piracy. Consultation on the Registered Designs Bill ended on January 6 while that on the Trademarks Bill will take place between January and February," Mr Selby said.

"The Government plans to have these three bills introduced into the Legislative Council in the first quarter of the year," he added.

On other developments over the past year, Mr Selby said closer co-operation had been forged between the Intellectual Property Department (IPD), the Customs and Excise Department and IPR-related enforcement agencies in China to combat piracy.

On the progress of computerisation, Mr Selby said IPD established a computerised Trade Mark Registry System in the past year and a Patents Computerisation System would be implemented in July this year.

Mr Selby said the department's registry performance in the past year had seen an increase in productivity.

"Workload-in-hand of trademark applications awaiting issue of first report was reduced from 16,000 in November 1995 to 12,000 in November 1996. This represents an increase of through-put of 25 per cent," he said.

Looking into 1997, Mr Selby said the department was planning to launch a major public campaign at a cost of $1-2 million in conjunction with the private sector to promote understanding and protection of intellectual property rights.

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