TNAG-2890-FCO40-4162-Reform-and-localisation-of-the-Hong-Kong-Patent-System-1993 — Page 52

Ms Annadale Bouch

Hong Kong Department

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

London

SW1A 2AH

Direct line 071-438 4770

Our ref

IPP 44480

Your ref

Date

7 June 1993

Dear Ms Bouch

The

Patent Office

370/20

RECEIVER

ERCISTRY

13 JU 1993

DESK

FA

REGISTRY Action Taken

Intellectual Property Policy Directorate

Hazlitt House

45 Southampton Buildings London WC2A 1AR United Kingdom

Enquiries

071-438 4777

Telex 498040 PATOFF G Fax 071-438 4780/4713

GTN

3555-4770

HONG KONG: PATENTS REFORM

(4

Alec Sugden has asked me to reply to your letter of 28 May about the proposed patent law reform in Hong Kong.

I have copied the most important parts of the PSC report to our Standing Advisory Committee on Industrial Property and asked for their comments. In order to get an authoritative reaction, it is necessary to give the representatives a month to sound out the views of their organisations. In the mean time we will carry out our own analysis of the Hong Kong proposals and so should be in a position to finalise our position around the middle of July. Can you therefore send a holding reply to Hong Kong to the effect that we are considering the proposals carefully and should be in a position to let them have a reply by the end of July? We will deal with the specific questions raised in Mrs Regina's letter of 25 May in that reply.

This leaves the question raised in Mrs Regina's second letter (27 May) about the way in which the PCT is to continue to apply to Hong Kong. It is clearly desirable that PCT should continue to apply but, beyond that, the question of how it is to apply is a complex question of interpreting what is possible under the Treaty and relationships with China, given that what is decided upon needs to negotiate the 1997 transfer smoothly.

An Executive Agency of the Department of Trade and Industry