ENG-1999 — Page 159

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

respect of services. In all, 17 140 marks were newly registered in 1999, an increase of 26.2 per cent compared with 13 578 in 1998. The principal places of applicants' origin

were:

USA

Hong Kong

Japan

United Kingdom

Germany

5 066

4 677

France

Switzerland

821

780

1 829

Italy

714

1 025

British Virgin Islands

395

1 005

China

384

The register had a total of 123 215 marks as at December 31.

Patents

The Patents Ordinance provides for the grant of standard patents based on patents granted in the State Intellectual Property Office, China, the United Kingdom Patent Office or the European Patent Office (in respect of patents designating the United Kingdom). It also provides for the grant of short-term patents. During the period, the Patents Registry received 6 040 standard patent applications under the Patents Ordinance and 2 502 were granted. There were also 175 applications for grant of short-term patents, of which 117 had been granted by December 31.

Registered Designs

The Registered Designs Ordinance enables designs to be registered independently in the HKSAR. In 1999, the Designs Registry received 1800 applications for registration of 2 613 designs, comprising 1 458 single-design applications and 342 multiple-design applications. During the period, 2 241 designs were registered.

Copyright

The Copyright Ordinance provides protection for literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works, published editions, sound recordings, films, broadcasts, cable programmes, and performer's performances irrespective of the domicile of the owners. There is no requirement to register copyright.

Public Education

Recognising the importance of long-term educational efforts to raise public awareness of and respect for intellectual property rights, the Government has allocated about $17.3 million to the Intellectual Property Department for the years 1999 to 2002. A series of Hong Kong-wide public education programmes have been planned and some of them have already commenced. The Intellectual Property Department will continue to work closely with the Hong Kong Intellectual Property Society and other intellectual property organisations to promote intellectual property protection.

A major event was the International Symposium on Intellectual Property and Information Technology 1999. This symposium was organised with the Hong Kong Intellectual Property Society and other representative bodies in the information technology field. The symposium brought together experts in the fields of intellectual property and information technology to exchange their views and experience on the linkage between intellectual property and information technology. Over 200

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