Protecting a Trade Mark in Hong Kong
Looking to find out more about protecting a trade mark in Hong Kong?
Valerie Suen, Partner at ELLALAN, introduces the key points to know in this short video.
Transcript:
Trade mark is essential to all kinds of companies and businesses. It is used to indicate the origin of goods or services, and it represents a business’ own identity.
It is important to protect the use of your own brand and mark and to prevent others from using the brand. The best way to protect yourself is to get a trade mark registration for your mark and to make sure the registration covers your products.
The mark can be your brand name, logo or a combination of both. Think about what tells people this product is from you. Sound and smell can also be registered as a trade mark provided it is distinctive enough.
Also think about what products are important to you and what are relevant but not core to your business. We need to list out goods and services in a trade mark application and generally the more categories you cover, the more money and investment you have to make.
Once you have all the info, file the application for your trade mark. If the Registry accepts it and no one else objects to your mark, it will proceed to registration. In Hong Kong, typically it takes at least 6 months from filing to registration if no one objects.
We also recommend you keep records of the products you sell, advertising materials and publicity on your brand and products. These materials can be very helpful in the future – to support your application if it runs into conflict with others’ marks or to take action against others who are using it.
Each trade mark registration is also expected to be put into use for the goods or services that are covered within 3 years after registration. Evidence of use you keep is therefore also helpful if you need to defend your mark in case someone cancels or invalidates your registration based on 3-years of non-use.
If you have any questions about this topic, please do not hesitate to contact us. For more information about us, pls visit our firm’s website www.ellalan.com or follow us on Linkedln.
Thank you for watching and see you again in our next video.”
