Trademark Registration

We first carry out a trademark search for your company, checking the same or similar trademarks already on the register locally, then settle the classes of goods or services and the places of application, file the application on your company’s behalf and follow up the notices issued by the registry until registration. If the trademark owner is a newly formed company, this can be arranged together with Hong Kong company registration; the owner’s name and address are as stated in the registration documents.

A trademark is used to promote and identify the goods or services of its owner, and protects the company’s reputation and profit. A trademark may be any sign that is capable of being perceived visually and represented graphically. It may consist of words, a person, a name, letters, numerals, figurative elements or a combination of colours, and includes any combination of those signs; it may also consist of a three-dimensional shape, provided the shape can be recorded and published, for example presented as a drawing or as a description in words.

To improve the chance of registration, we recommend a device created by the applicant, carrying no particular meaning as words, and both distinctive and novel.

A trademark registration takes effect only where it is registered. A trademark registered in Hong Kong is protected only in Hong Kong; every market the goods or services reach requires a separate application there. Where there is no local registration and another party applies first for the same or a similar mark, your company has no registered trademark right to assert in that place, and the brand spending already committed loses its basis. The processing time in each place is counted in months, so the date of filing often decides who owns the mark.