The Legal 500

A trade mark which is entitled to protection under the Paris Convention as a well-known trade mark can be protected under the Trade Marks Ordinance in Hong Kong.

Section 11(5)(b) of the Trade Marks Ordinance provides that a trade mark shall not be registered if the application for registration of it is made in bad faith. Recently, there are two decided trade mark cases where each of the Opponents has established a case of bad faith successfully.

New provisions: "Prior Art" refers to an art publicly known within and outside the country before the filing date; while Prior Design refers to a design publicly known within and outside the country before the filing date. Prior Art include arts that are being publicly disclosed in publications worldwide, publicly used or made known to public in the country in any other manner before the filing date (or priority date, in case a priority is claimed)

As the British Virgin Islands continues to play a vital role in facilitating global trade and investment, it turns its attention to helping its more than 60,000 new companies per year build a business environment where innovation can be a key economic driver. Towards this end, the BVI Financial Services Commission (the “FSC”), which is the public body with responsibility for, among other things, administering the intellectual property laws of the BVI, announced on 5 January 2010 the establishment of a Focus Group to review and revise the existing IP laws