Trade Marks Ordinance

 The new Hong Kong Trade Marks Ordinance, which was enacted by the legislature in June 2000, came into effect on April 4, 2003. The new Law brings Hong Kong’s trademark Law into line with current international practices and provides more economical and streamlined procedures for trademark registration. Salient feartures of the new Act are as follows:
 
 • The examination of registrability of a trademark requires that it is a sign with distinctive character and is capable of being represented graphically.
 
 • The following registrable transactions must be recorded within 6 months in order to be fully enforceable against third parties: assignments, grant of licenses, grant of a fixed or floating security interest in a registered mark or application, assent by personal representatives of a registered trademark proprietor and court orders for the transfer of a registered trademark or trademark application.
 
 • The concept of associated trademarks has been abolished in the New Trade Marks Ordinance.
 
 • Multi-class applications are now accepted.
 
 • The term of registration under the New Trade Marks Ordinance is an initial term of ten years, renewable for further periods of ten years.
 
 • A new exhaustion of rights provision essentially legalizes parallel imports. It is not infringement if the trademark is used in relation to goods that have been marketed anywhere in the world under the trademark by the owner or with his/her consent (provided that the goods have not been modified.
 
 • The trademark records of the Trade Mark Registry are now available online and it is possible to search them on the Internet. The online search results should be treated with caution, because the system is not yet finalized and it is not always accurate.