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Commerce and Industry

In February, the government introduced a bill to amend the Trade Marks Ordinance to pave the way for Hong Kong's implementation of the international registration system under the Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks. The Bills Committee set up by the Legislative Council completed its scrutiny of the bill and reported the results to the House Committee in May.

Patents

On 19 December, the government launched a new patent system. It is an original grant patent system that provides a direct route for applicants to file standard patent applications in Hong Kong that are subject to the Patents Registry's substantive examination. The existing re-registration system is retained to grant standard patents based on corresponding patents granted by one of three designated patent offices, namely the China National Intellectual Property Administration, UK Intellectual Property Office, and European Patent Office in respect of patents designating the UK. The new patent system also refines the short-term patent system by enabling short-term patent owners or third parties having a legitimate interest in the validity of a patent to ask the registry to carry out post-grant substantive examination.

The registry received 16,521 standard patent and 791 short-term patent applications in 2019. It granted 6,780 and 520 standard and short-term patents respectively, 29.7 per cent and 31.8 per cent lower than in 2018.

Designs

In 2019, the Designs Registry received 2,576 applications to register 4,974 designs and registered 4,579 designs, a 0.7 per cent increase from 2018.

Copyright

The Copyright Ordinance protects original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works, typographical arrangements of published editions, sound recordings, films, broadcasts, cable programmes and performers' performances irrespective of the domicile of the authors and performers. No registration is required to obtain protection. In November, the government introduced a bill to amend the Copyright Ordinance to enhance copyright exceptions relating to persons with print disability to bring the exceptions in line with standards under the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled.

Enforcement

The Customs and Excise Department enforces criminal sanctions against the infringement of intellectual property rights. It investigates reports of copyright infringement and trade mark counterfeiting; maintains licensing control on all optical disc and stamper factories; and takes action against the manufacture, distribution, sale, import and export of pirated and counterfeit goods and the possession of such goods for business use. The department liaises with businesses to investigate cases and promote protection of intellectual property rights.

In addition to targeted raids, officers carry out intensive and high-profile patrols in high-risk areas to deter the peddling of pirated and counterfeit goods, including street sales. In 2019, the

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