The Government is committed to reforming the local patent system in order to ensure that it would continue to meet present-day circumstances and also facilitate the development of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region's innovation and technology sector. In this connection, the Patents (Amendment) Ordinance 2016 and the Patents (General) (Amendment) Rules 2019 have been enacted with the commencement date of 19 December 2019 to provide for the necessary legal and procedural framework for a new patent system.
The new patent system mainly introduces an original grant patent system for standard patents, refines the existing short-term patent system and introduces an interim regulatory measure of prohibiting use of certain confusing or misleading titles and descriptions relating to patent practice in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.