Hong Kong
Trademark
I. GENERAL
A. Right Afforded by registration
First to file principle.
Registration is mandatory to establish rights.
B. Time Frame for Obtaining Registration
About 10 to 12 months for a regular prosecution without opposition.
C. Requesting
Neither actual use nor intent to use is required for application;
No Legalization, No Notarization.
II. PRE-FILING
A. Registrable Trademarks
A trademark shall refer to any sign with distinctiveness
Words;
Designs;
Symbols;
Colors;
Three-dimensional shapes;
Motions;
Holograms;
Sounds;
Olfactory.
In addition to regular trademark registrations, the following types of trademarks are registrable:
Collective marks;
Certification marks;
Defensive marks;
Service marks.
B. Searching
The Trademark Registry provide fee-based “Search and Preliminary Advice Services”, while the pre-filing search is also available on esearch.ipd.gov.hk.
III. FILING
A. Requirements
Name of the applicant;
Address of the applicant;
Country of applicant;
Description of trademark;
Representation trademark;
List of goods/services;
Power of attorney.
B. Priority
An application filed in any of the WTO member countries within the latest six months (The corresponding application should be the one first filed for the mark around the world).
C. Classification
Nice Classification System
One application can cover multiple classes of goods or service
IV. RENEWAL
10 years from the publication date of registration.
The duration of each renewal is 10 years.
A request for renewal should be made within 6 months before the date of expiry of the period of the trademark right.
The number of times of renewals is not limited.
V. OPPOSITION
Within 3 months from the publication date.
VI. HEARING
A hearing is scheduled by the Trade Mark Registry after all necessary evidence/documents have been filed.