1.6.
There are disadvantages to Hong Kong's present patent system. A United Kingdom patent or a European patent (UK) may be registered in Hong Kong at any time within five years of its grant (paragraphs 6.2, 6.6). In consequence the businessman in Hong Kong cannot be sure, for as long as five years, that patent protection will not be sought in Hong Kong for the United Kingdom patented technology that he wishes to make use of here (paragraph 6.19). There are doubts that United Kingdom patent law applies in Hong Kong to matters such as compulsory licences, employees' rights in inventions, a requirement that a patent must be worked, or a restriction on the unwarranted threat of proceedings for infringement (paragraph 6.22). An application to amend the patent cannot be made in Hong Kong (paragraph 6.23). It is not clear whether licensees, under certain exclusive licences, are able to sue the patentee for infringement (paragraph 6.24). A further shortcoming of the present system is that a person seeking to know whether the patent has been renewed or revoked cannot find this information from the Hong Kong register of patents (paragraph 6.25).
The need for Hong Kong's own patent law
1.7.
China will resume sovereignty over Hong Kong in 1997. As it would be inappropriate for Hong Kong's patent law to continue to depend on United Kingdom patent law after 1997, Hong Kong should have its own legislation (paragraph 6.17).
The requirement of the Basic Law
1.8.
The Sino-British Joint Declaration and the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region adopted by the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China provide for a separate legal system in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Article 139 of the Basic Law requires the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to protect by law achievements in scientific and technological research, patents, discoveries and inventions (paragraph 6.18). Hong Kong will have to introduce its own patent system.
Use of patents in Hong Kong
1.9.
About 1,000 patents are registered in Hong Kong each year. There has been little increase in this figure in the past decade (paragraph 7.3). The number of patent registrations by Hong Kong resident inventors is low, even allowing for the fact that patents are sometimes held in the name of an offshore subsidiary or parent company (paragraph 7.12).
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1.10.
The fact that Hong Kong residents have not made much use of the existing patent system may be explained in part by the limited scale of innovation in Hong Kong's manufacturing industries in the past. Innovation in the manufacturing sector is likely to become more widespread in response to the pressure to increase productivity and to improve the quality of products and to the influence of overseas investors on product innovation (paragraphs 7.14, 7.15).
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