The patent practice of each jurisdiction has its own running way. But meanwhile, these are connected by various terms, treaties, and organizations - such as the Paris Convention and the PCT. And in addition to some large systems like these two, there are other smaller cooperative relationships just between two or several jurisdictions.

Not long ago, I received an inquiry about the registration of standard patents in Hong Kong - the client asked if the record request can only be based on a Chinese patent? Today, I would like to take this opportunity to talk about it.

Hong Kong standard patent registration is also known as an extension of patent protection in Hong Kong, which is available because of the cooperative relationships between Hong Kong and those designated patent offices.

The grant of a standard patent in Hong Kong is based on the registration of a patent granted by one of the three patent offices below:

• China National Intellectual Property Administration;
• The European Patent Office, in respect of a patent designating the United Kingdom;
• The United Kingdom Patent Office.

So you can see, besides asking your Chinese patent attorney to work on this, people with this kind of requirement can also ask the UK or EU patent attorney for help.

There are two stages for a standard patent in Hong Kong.

• a request to record (Stage 1): it should be filed within 6 months after the application is published;
• a request to grant (Stage 2): it should be filed within 6 months after the application is allowed.

Just brief info this time, please reach out for further discussions.

If you need IP assistance in China, feel free to reach out.