A patent method of protecting your intellectual property rights
COULD you please explain how intellectual property can be protected. I have a design for an invention that I wish to offer to suitable companies for manufacture. Should the rights be sold or licensed? INTELLECTUAL property can be protected in several different ways depending upon the type of property. For example, a name and/or logo can be protected by registering it as a trademark.
Since March 1992, it has been possible in Hong Kong to register a mark in respect of not only goods but also services. Therefore a mark and/or logo could be registered in respect of services such as retail, restaurant, publishing and entertainment.
On the other hand, an invention may be protected by being registered as a patent. For an invention to be patentable it must satisfy the following criteria: it must be novel; it must involve an inventive step; it must be suitable for industrial application; and it must not be an invention which is already known to the public.
Therefore, the present law requires a patent invention to be new in the sense that the information or invention must not have been made available to the public by written or oral description, by use or in any other way.
In order for an invention to be patented in Hong Kong it must first be registered as a patent in Britain. The patent will then be formally registered in Hong Kong once confirmation of the registration in Britain has been received.
Intellectual property can also be protected by copyright, which in Hong Kong you cannot register. Copyright subsists in original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic work which includes sound recording, filming, broadcasting and published editions.
The term of copyright subsists for the life of the author and 50 years thereafter. If, therefore, any unauthorised person uses or copies work mentioned above, the author of that work may take legal action against the infringer for breach of copyright and obtain an injunction to prevent further use of the work and damages for losses incurred as a result of the breach.
Whether intellectual property should be sold or licensed depends largely on personal preference and long-term intentions.
If you wish to offer the design to several companies for manufacture, the design will need to be licensed on a non-exclusive basis. The benefit of granting a licence is that, once the term of the licence has expired, the licensee will no longer be authorised to use the design and a further licence may be issued for a further fee.
It may, however, be advantageous to sell the design rather than licence it if the design or manufactured product is likely to have only a short-term value.
Source: Robertson Double Solicitors. Send your questions to Sunday Money, 1 Tong Chong Street, Quarry Bay, or fax to 565 1423.
