TNAG-2890-FCO40-4162-Reform-and-localisation-of-the-Hong-Kong-Patent-System-1993 — Page 124

licences, to sue the patentee for infringement is therefore unclear. These uncertainties wer expressed in Pfizer.

6.25.

There is no mechanism in the Registration of Patents Ordinance to enable the Registrar to record whether a patent registered in Hong Kong remains in force. This information cannot be obtained from a search of the register maintained in Hong Kong a fan which makes the Hong Kong register at best unreliable, at worst misleading. It is disadvantage to the person seeking to know whether the patent has been renewed or revoked to have to search also in the United Kingdom Patent Office. Neither a search in the United Kingdom register nor the Hong Kong register will reveal the effect of a Hong Kong cour order on the patent registration.

Consequences for Hong Kong's reputation

6.26.

The absence of an autonomous patent law may have given rise to the common but erroneous belief that there is no effective patent system in Hong Kong. A consequence of that belief may have been that fewer patents are registered here than could be and that Hong Kong's international reputation as an effective protector of intellectual property rights is damaged. A further consequence is that the patentee who does not appreciate that he will lose his right to protection if he fails to register his patent in Hong Kong foregoes his right to protection.

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