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 Dragon Law Trade Marks Fact Sheet 1. What is a trade mark? A trade mark is a sign that distinguishes the goods and services of one trader from those of others. Typically a trade mark can be words (including personal names), indications, designs, letters, characters, numerals, figurative elements, colours, sounds, smells, the shape of the goods or their packaging or any combination of these. A sign must be capable of being represented graphically in order for it to be registered as a trade mark. 2. Why is it a good idea to register your trade mark? Registering your trade mark means that you have the exclusive right to use that trade mark in conjunction with the goods and services for which the mark is registered. If other traders use it in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in relation to the same or similar goods or services without your consent, they may be liable for infringement of your mark in which case you could take legal action. If you do not register your mark, it is harder to prove that you are the ‘owner’ of the mark and as such your protection is limited. 3. The process of registering a trade mark and what we need from you. To prepare your application, we need the following information from you: • The name of the owner of the trade mark(s) This can be you personally or your business, but ideally the owner should be the one that actually uses the mark. This is because if you ever need to enforce the trade mark against an infringer, you will need to prove that the “owner” of the trade mark is the entity that actually uses the mark. There can be multiple owners for 1 trade mark. So long as one of the co-­‐owners is a Dragon Law paid subscriber, we can process the application for you, but we will need the names of all of the co-­‐owners. • The address of the owner This can be the owner’s registered office address or another business address of the owner(s). If you have multiple co-­‐owners, you can decide which address you want to use, or provide the addresses of all the co-­‐owners. • The representation of your trade mark(s) If you wish to register a logo, please send us a colour image of your logo which is at least 200x 200 pixels in size. If you are registering a business name or a tagline, simply give us the text. The class(es) of goods and/or services you would like to register your trade mark(s) under We need a list of classes of goods and services you wish to register and, under each class, the descriptions you would like to register your trade marks under. Please see “4” for details. After we obtain the above information we will send you an invoice for our costs and the government fees. Once the invoice is paid, we can complete your application and file it at the Trade Marks Registry. A straightforward trade mark application in Hong Kong usually take around 9 months from the day that Trade Marks Registry acknowledges the receipt to your application to the actual registration of your mark. This is if there are no deficiencies in the application and no objections to the trade mark. •
Here is a breakdown of different stages in an application (for Hong Kong applications): •
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Deficiencies checking The Trade Marks Registry will check the application form and attachments to make sure they are correct or anything missing. Search and Examination The Trade Marks Registry will conduct a search of the trade marks records to see if the same or similar trade mark has already been registered or been applied for by another trader in respect of the same or similar class of goods and services. It will also see if the trade mark satisfies the registration requirements laid down in the Trade Marks Ordinance. •
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Publication for Opposition Once your trade mark has been accepted for registration, it is published in the Hong Kong Intellectual Property Journal. Anyone can view your trade mark in the Hong Kong Intellectual Property Journal and lodge an opposition to it. They have to file an opposition notice within the 3-­‐month period beginning on the publication date. As the applicant, you may withdraw your application or respond to the opposition by filing a counter-­‐statement. Registration Once your trade mark has been accepted for registration, the Registrar of Trade Marks will enter the details of your trade mark into the trade marks register and you will be issued with a Certificate of Registration. Notice of the registration will be published in the Hong Kong Intellectual Property Journal and the registration of your trade mark will date back to the filing date of your application. That means as the owner of a registered trade mark, your rights take effect from the filing date of the application. Once a trade mark is registered in Hong Kong, it will be valid for 10 years from the date of registration, and can be further renewed for another 10 years. 4. What are the different classes? Depending on what services and/or goods you will be using your trade mark with, you need to decide which “classes” to register your trade mark under and what “descriptions” you will use under each class, so other people can see what you use your trade mark for and avoid using similar trade marks for those goods and/or services you registered your trade marks under. Hong Kong (and most parts of the world) use the NICE Classification to categorize goods and services for trade marks. Classes 1-­‐34 are for goods and Classes 35-­‐45 are for services. You should choose the classes which are relevant to the goods and/or services you plan to use your trade marks for. Under each class, you need to pick the descriptions that most suit the intended use of your trade marks. If you cannot find what you are looking for in the descriptions under a given class, you can also provide your own wording, but there is no guarantee that the Trade Mark Registry will accept it. It is very likely that you find more than one class of goods and/or service applicable to your trade mark. You can definitely register for more than one class, but extra charges will incur for every additional class you register. 5. How we can help you Dragon Law can help you file your trade mark application and trade mark renewal application in Hong Kong and overseas (please see “7”). We will also communicate with the Registry should it have any question or request relating your trade mark applications. We are not a law firm so we do not give you legal advice regarding what classes and descriptions to choose for your trade mark. Choosing the right classes and descriptions is an exercise which requires extensive knowledge on your business as it currently is and what you aspire it to be. This is why we think it is best that we leave this question to you. If you do need legal advice in this or any other intellectual property area then we can refer to a specialist law firm using our DragonLink service. 6. Pricing The price is made up of two parts: the government fee charged by the Intellectual Property Department for processing your applications, and our service costs for preparing your application and liaising with the Trade Mark Registry. The price for each individual application is based on the number of classes registered. Here is a simple pricing table for our Hong Kong trade mark application. Number of Classes Government Fees Dragon Law’s Total Cost Service Cost 1 HKD2,000 HKD2,300* HKD4,300* 2 HKD3,000 HKD4,100 HKD7,100 3 HKD4,000 HKD5,900 HKD9,900 4 HKD5,000 HKD9,500 HKD14,500 5 HKD6,000 HKD11,300 HKD17,300 6 HKD7,000 HKD13,100 HKD20,100 7 HKD8,000 HKD14,900 HKD22,900 8 HKD9,000 HKD16,700 HKD25,700 9 HKD10,000 HKD18,500 HKD28,500 *New clients can take advantage of our complimentary offer of an application in one class – so you only pay the Government Fees. 7. Overseas trade mark applications Dragon Law can also help you register trade mark overseas in almost every country/ jurisdiction in the world. Below is the price list of frequently requested jurisdictions. If the jurisdiction in which you wish to register cannot be found below, please call us at +852 3618 6145 or email us at trademarks@dragonlaw.com.hk to obtain a quote. Jurisdiction Minimum fees for 1 application Every subsequent class China HKD5,000 (includes 1 class) HKD5,000 European Union HKD26,800 (includes up to 3 classes) UK HKD12,300 (includes 1 class) HKD6,500 United States HKD11,800 (includes 1 class) HKD11,800 *all our fees include government fees, local licensed agency fees, POA expenses, and document fee.