Government launches public consultation on review of registered designs regime
The Government today (December 17) launched a three-month public consultation on the review of the registered designs regime of Hong Kong.
Industrial design as a type of intellectual property broadly refers to the ornamental aspect of a product. It embodies a designer's intellectual efforts and acumen for making a product appealing to customers. Legal protection of an industrial design can be obtained in Hong Kong by way of registration under the Registered Designs Ordinance (Cap. 522) (the Ordinance).
A spokesman for the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau (CEDB) said, "Since the enactment of the Ordinance in 1997, design trends around the world have significantly evolved with technological innovation and advancement, opening up new possibilities and opportunities for growth of the creative and manufacturing industries. With technological innovation and integration of industries, designs that a business applies to products have become instrumental to the degree of its success."
The spokesman stressed, "In driving towards new industrialisation, Hong Kong must continue to afford effective protection for designs which is crucial to not only incentivising sustainable innovation and creativity, but also enhancing the design capability of our advanced manufacturing sectors and emerging industries. As a matter of fact, there have been a number of reviews and reforms in different areas of designs laws in various jurisdictions over the years."
The spokesman added, "The Government is fully committed to upholding an effective and robust intellectual property protection regime. To ensure that our registered designs regime is up to date and remains competitive for meeting the changing needs of our industries, the Government considers it timely and necessary to conduct a comprehensive review of the regime. As announced in the 2025 Policy Address, the Government is now embarking on the next step of the review by launching a consultation on various issues pertinent to updating the regime."
The consultation document looks into a wide range of issues pertaining to the local registered designs regime, from the scope of and requirements for legal protection of designs, the procedures for design applications and registrations, to the possible alignment with international practices and standards. It has been uploaded onto the websites of the CEDB (www.cedb.gov.hk) and the Intellectual Property Department (IPD) (www.ipd.gov.hk). Members of the public may submit their views and relevant information by email (design_consultation@cedb.gov.hk), fax (2147 3065) or post (Division 3, Commerce and Economic Development Bureau, 23/F, West Wing, Central Government Offices, 2 Tim Mei Avenue, Tamar, Hong Kong) on or before March 16, 2026.
The Government will also organise engagement sessions to collect views on the consultation. Details will be announced on the websites of the CEDB and IPD in due course.
Opening remarks by SITI at "CUHK and MicroSigX partner to launch breakthrough test aiding early autism diagnosis"
Following are the opening remarks by the Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry, Professor Sun Dong, at the "CUHK and MicroSigX partner to launch breakthrough test aiding early autism diagnosis" today (December 17):
Professor Chan (Choh-Ming Li Professor of Medicine and Therapeutics of thethe Faculty of Medicine of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Professor Francis Chan), Professor Ng (Associate Dean (Research) of the Faculty of Medicine of the Chinese University of Hong Kong and Croucher Professor of Medical Sciences, Professor Siew Ng), distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,
Good morning. I am pleased to join the Faculty of Medicine of CUHK (Chinese University of Hong Kong) at the launch of its groundbreaking innovation in early detection of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Congratulations to CUHK Faculty of Medicine and MicroSigX on your achievements, which once again exemplify the fruitful outcomes of our collaborative efforts in innovation and technology (I&T).
The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government is firmly committed to developing Hong Kong into an international I&T centre. This vision builds on our flourishing life and health technology research, underpinned by the close collaboration among the Government, industry, academia, and research sectors. We have been channeling more funding support into our universities for commercialising their research and development (R&D) outcomes through various initiatives such as the Research, Academic and Industry Sectors One-plus Scheme launched in 2023. The Scheme has been well received by universities as well as the industry sector. Since its inception, a total of 49 projects were supported in the first two rounds, covering various technological fields including health and medical sciences, new materials and new energy, artificial intelligence and robotics, etc, with the total funding amounting to over $2 billion.
Another major I&T initiative of the Government to develop Hong Kong into an international I&T centre is the InnoHK Research Clusters. InnoHK leverages Hong Kong's advantages as an international city to promote global I&T co-operation and bring together leading researchers from around the world to conduct R&D in collaboration with local universities. The Government has encouraged the research centres under InnoHK to further increase the adoption rate of R&D projects, promote recognition in the industry and accelerate technology transfer and commercialisation of R&D outcomes. It is worth noting that MicroSigX's technology is in part underpinned by the research conducted at Microbiota I-Center, a research centre established under InnoHK. We are happy to see that our research centres under InnoHK are turning upstream R&D into real application and products in the market.
Today's pilot initiative not only marks a milestone in commercialisation of research and development outcomes, but also benefits the underprivileged local families by providing free tests to those in need with the assistance of non-governmental organisations. This is exactly our ultimate goal in promoting I&T: harnessing technological breakthroughs to benefit our society as a whole. We genuinely hope that advances in technology will bring meaningful benefits for society at large and improve people's quality of life.
The Government will continue to provide robust policy and support to enhance the overall I&T ecosystem in Hong Kong and develop Hong Kong into an international I&T centre. Let us work hand in hand to realise this vision. Thank you.
Source: AI-found images
Opening remarks by SITI at "CUHK and MicroSigX partner to launch breakthrough test aiding early autism diagnosis" Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
Source: AI-found images
