Replies to initial written questions raised by Finance Committee Members in examining the Estimates of Expenditure 2012-13 Director of Bureau : Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Session No. 12 File name : cedb(cit)- doc
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- Examination of Estimates of Expenditure 2012-13
Question : (a) Under the indicators of this Programme, for processing the patent applications under the Patents Ordinance (Cap.514), it is expected to receive over 13 000 applications for standard patents in 2012, but less than half of the patent applications are expected to be granted. What are the reasons? (b) What are the procedure for and the average time taken in processing a standard patent application? (c) For those who have been granted standard patents or short-term patents, if their inventions or patents are being challenged or accused by others of infringing intellectual property rights, could they approach the Department for assistance and to what extent could the Department provide assistance? If no assistance will be given to those who have been granted patents, would the Administration consider strengthening its assistance in this regard to support patent rights? Asked by : Hon. PAN Pey-chyou Reply : (a) An application for a standard patent in Hong Kong is made in two stages. At Stage 1, the applicant is required to apply for patent registration at one of three designated patent offices, namely the State Intellectual Property Office of the People’s Republic of China, the European Patent Office (for patents designating the United Kingdom) and the United Kingdom Patent Office. Within six months after the patent application has been published by the designated patent office, the applicant may file a “request to record” his application for a standard patent in Hong Kong. At Stage 2, after the grant of patent by the designated patent office (which usually takes a few years), the applicant may proceed to file a “request for registration and grant” in Hong Kong. If the documents and information provided by the applicant meet the registration requirements, the Hong Kong Patents Registry will grant the standard patent. Due to the time gap that exists between the above two stages, there is no direct relationship between the number of applications received (as shown under the indicators of this Programme) and the number of standard patents granted in the same year. The number of applications at Stage 1 is usually larger than the number of patents ultimately granted at Stage 2. This is mainly because some applicants did not file a request for registration and grant at Stage 2. These may include cases where (1) the applicant failed to obtain a patent from the designated patent office; or (2) the applicant has either withdrawn his application at the designated patent offices or his application in Hong Kong. (b) Generally speaking, the processing time for each of the two stages described in part (a) above used to be about three months, from the date the Registry received the application. In the second half of 2011, the number of applications saw a substantive increase. The upward trend persisted in early 2012. In the circumstances, the processing time for individual cases (especially those where the documents accompanying the request do not fully satisfy the formal requirements at the time of filing) may exceed three months. Nonetheless, we will endeavour to absorb the rising workload within existing resources and maintain the processing time at the level prevailing before mid-2011, i.e. about three months for each of the two stages. (c) One of the principal functions of this Department is to provide patent registration services. It is inappropriate for us to offer, to members of the public, legal advice on the patentability of individual applications. After he has been granted a standard or short-term patent, any person who requires financial assistance in the face of legal proceedings in relation to the patent may consider lodging an application with the Legal Aid Department for assistance.
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