Trademark applications in Hong Kong
(mistakes in selecting a series of trademark applications and defensive trademark applications)?
We have a case of an overseas Australian law firm that I want to share with you. They need us to help with Hong Kong trademark applications, and they need to request amendments and separate trademark applications in order to relieve the case.
This Australian law firm has a Hong Kong client who applied for a Hong Kong trademark himself earlier. However, he applied for a few months, and the examiner sent them a deficiency letter. He applied for a trademark with 8 classes (two logos) with a series of trademarks and defensive marks. In fact, they should not apply for their trademarks as a series of trademarks and defensive marks.
The definition of a series of trademarks is that the trademarks within the series of a series of trademarks must be similar in major elements while defensive trademarks should be used to register well-known trademarks in Hong Kong.
Applicants have two options:-
1) According to Article 99 of the Hong Kong Trademark Rules, applicants must submit a statutory declaration or affidavit verified declaration within 9 months, if they want to maintain their defensive trademark application, after the date of application for registration.
2) If the application is not for a defensive trademark, the applicant needs to submit Form T5A to confirm that the application is a registered ordinary trademark, and to amend the application (Form T5A)
In fact, the applicant did not understand the requirements or rules of trademark registration in Hong Kong but applied for the trademark on his own. In fact, the decision was quite unwise.
Therefore, our Australian law firm partners asked us for assistance, and we helped them submit the T5A form to amend the application and the T3 form to divide the trademarks separately. The official fee of T5A is free, and the fee for dividing trademarks into 8 categories is 9,650 Hong Kong dollars.
In summary, it is not wise for amateurs to apply for a Hong Kong trademark. In fact, this professional process should be handled by local professionals. In this case, the applicant needs more time to apply for a trademark, which will not only prevent their business expansion but may eventually suffer greater losses due to the rejection of the trademark application.
Therefore, for companies, it is wise to leave professional matters to others, so as to free up more time to develop more business in their own industry. Moreover, there are local agents who can get better results for them in a faster and more prepared way.
Tips: We are committed to providing our clients with high-quality and fast trademark applications. We also provide services for foreign law firms. They sent us the trademark application instructions on the same day, and we can send them a filing receipt within a few hours.
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