XN000022-1997-03-06 — Page 26

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The spokesman said: "Design articles occupy an important place in our economy and cover an extremely wide range of goods, such as domestic appliances, furniture, textiles, fashion, jewellery and watches.

"In many cases, design is the decisive factor in the commercial success of a commercial product. The investment in developing a design can be substantial and the commercial risk can be high. On the other hand, once a design has become a success, it costs only a fraction of the original research and development cost to reproduce it. Design protection is of great importance to Hong Kong and especially to the small and medium enterprises."

He said: "A draft Registered Designs Bill was issued to parties concerned in the industrial, professional and academic fields during a consultation exercise from December 1996 to January 1997. We have as far as possible incorporated the comments received in this Bill.

"Under the Bill, the period of protection of a design registered with the proposed Hong Kong Designs Registry will be for an initial period of five years. Registration may be extended for four periods of five years each upon payment of the prescribed renewal fee. The maximum duration of protection will be 25 years.

"For continuity, designs already registered in the United Kingdom will be deemed as Hong Kong registered designs after the commencement of the new law.

"The Bill will be introduced into the Legislative Council on March 19 in order to ensure that the necessary legislative and administrative system can be put into place before July 1, 1997", he added.

End

Use of Chinese in High Court jury trials

The Jury (Amendment) Bill 1997, which aims mainly to amend the Jury Ordinance to enable the Judiciary to conduct jury trials in the High Court in Chinese before July 1, 1997, will be gazetted tomorrow (Friday).

The opportunity is also taken to amend the list of those exempted from jury service to include the Legal Adviser of the Legislative Council Secretariat and his legally qualified assistants, and the spouses (instead of just the wives) of the Chief Justice, the Justices of Appeal and judges of the High Court.