THE HONG KONG GROUP OF APAA
Annual General Meeting on 17th October 2007
PRESIDENT’S REPORT
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I am pleased to deliver my report herein for the year 2006 – 2007.
1.
Membership
(a) Since our last Annual General Meeting in June 2006, 4 new applications for
individual membership and one for organization membership have been
approved and accepted by our Council.
(b) Upon conducting an audit of our membership, 8 individual members have
been identified as having left Hong Kong or no longer in private practice.
Since our membership is restricted to those in practice professionally in Hong
Kong, these members have been/ would be written to and informed that their
membership would be suspended until they resume private practice in Hong
Kong. APAA Headquarters would also be notified accordingly so that dues
on these members need not be paid.
(c)
2.
As of the date of this report, the Hong Kong Group has a total of 121
ordinary members, with 95 individuals and 26 organizations. There are 3
honorary members: the Honorable Mr. Justice Rogers, Mr. Robin Bridge and
Ms. Anna Wu.
Meetings with the Intellectual Property Department
Bi-Annual Meetings
Three meetings with the Hong Kong Intellectual Property Department (IPD) have
been held since our last Annual General Meeting in mid-June 2006.
Meeting held on 19 June 2006
Our then 5 council members together with 3 representatives from different
committees attended the meeting on behalf of our Association. Mr. Stephen Selby,
Director of IPD, and 6 other officers attended on behalf of the IPD.
After explaining the effect of 5-day week in the Government as applied to the IPD,
we were provided with an update on the publicity and public education activities
of the IPD and development in Mainland/ Hong Kong cooperation.
On the part of our members, concern was raised, inter alia, with (i) applications
for registration of trademarks containing well-known names by some Mainland
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dummy companies and (ii) companies which names contain famous Mainland or
overseas trademarks had applied for registration of those trademarks forming part
of their names. Difficulty in serving documents in Registry’s proceedings on the
address for service on the owner of a registered trademark or a party to the
proceedings was also brought to the attention of the IPD.
Meeting held on 4 December 2006
9 representatives from our Association attended the meetings, including council
members and representatives from the different committees. On the part of IPD,
Mr. Stephen Selby and 7 other officers were present.
Apart from the IPD providing an update on statistics and performance level,
issues raised included:
1. The IPD was aware that in using ISO10646 (Ming font) in their letters,
registration certificates, online search and e-filing web-interface, there
might be shifting of some European characters. They would be exploring
possibility of using other font types for certain documents, such as
registration certificates.
2. To address members’ concern in searching for stylized letter marks upon
updating the device coding to the fifth edition of Vienna Classification in
June 2006 where single stylized letters from “A” to “Z” were now all
classified under a single code, the IPD would be using sub-categories for
device coding of individual letters and the codes assigned to stylized letter
marks were being revised accordingly.
3. Our members requested the IPD to have amendments made to the
Registry’s Work Manual indicated or highlighted to facilitate
practitioners’ easier understanding of the amendments made. In addition,
our members enquired if all changes made to the Manual could be
separately listed chronologically in an archive section for easy tracking.
The IPD later responded that whilst putting mark-ups of revisions to the
Manual would be messy and confusing, a chronological log of changes
made to the Manual would be posted in the IPD’s website.
4. Clarification on effect of Form T12 (Notice of Attendance at Hearing/
Request for Statement of Reasons) was sought by one of our members
(Post-meeting note: as a result a new section under “Ex-parte
hearings-registrability” was included in the Manual).
5. At the request of our members, to accommodate those firms that work on
Saturday mornings, the IPD have agreed to schedule non-routine
maintenance of e-filing and online search system on Saturday afternoons
or Sundays.
Meeting held on 4 July 2007
9 representatives, including council and committee members, from our
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Association were present, with Mr. Stephen Selby and 6 other officers from the
IPD.
The IPD provided an update on status of the Patents (Amendment) Bill 2007
which is aimed to implement Protocol to TRIPS on public health. The Bill was at
the Bills Committee stage at the time of the meeting and APAA’s views were
invited as to the appropriate form and procedure to be adopted for references
under the Amendment Bill. On behalf of the Association, I subsequently wrote to
IPD expressing the view that the procedure for such application should not be
unduly cumbersome and should be both cost and time effective in view of the
nature and likely urgency of such references.
The IPD also explained the changes that had been implemented to protect
personal data provided in forms and documents filed with the Registry. An
update on their statistics and performance level, e-commerce, publicity and public
education and Mainland/ Hong Kong cooperation was also provided.
On the part of APAA, it was asked whether there was any timeline for application
of the Madrid Protocol to the Hong Kong SAR. The IPD replied that the issue
was being studied and if implemented, the Madrid Protocol would entail
legislative work and a substantial change in the IPD’s computer system and
additional staff costs. Any ideas from APAA members about application of the
Madrid Protocol to Hong Kong would be welcomed.
Various enquires relating to procedural and practice matters of the Registry were
also raised by our members.
Working Group Meeting
Pursuant to the earlier discussion on the issue of Ming font characters by the IPD,
a Working Group meeting was arranged by the IPD and held on the 22 August
2007 with myself on behalf of our Association and representatives from the Law
Society and HKITMP attending. Notes of the meeting prepared by the IPD were
subsequently circulated to all members.
3. Consultation
Proposed amendments to the Patents Ordinance
In November 2006, our views were sought on proposed amendments to the Patents
Ordinance to implement a Protocol adopted by the World Trade Organization in
December 2005 amending the TRIPS agreement which aims to facilitate access to
generic patented drugs when addressing public health problems. Our Patents
Committee were requested to review the government proposal and a response was
provided to the IPD stating that whilst it was believed the government proposal
reflects the proposed changes to the TRIPS agreement, the cap on the amount of
remuneration to be paid to patent owners may be considered too low and some
built-in flexibility may be desirable. The same issue was discussed at our meeting
with the IPD on the 4 December 2006 wherein IPD explained in more detail the
rationale behind the adoption of the proposed royalty rates. The Patents
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(Amendment) Bill 2007 was introduced into the Legislative Council on the 14 April
2007. As stated earlier in this report on the meeting with IPD on the 4 July, our
Association was consulted on the mode of application for review by the court in
relation to the grant remuneration and other terms of import/ export compulsory
licenses under the Amendment Bill and a reply was submitted thereto.
Copyright protection in the Digital Environment
Public consultation on the above was issued on the 19 December 2006 and views
were sought by end April 2007. Members of the Copyright Committee were
requested to review this consultation document and to seek our members’ views
generally and thereafter prepare submission on behalf of our Association. Alice
Chan and Anita Leung of the Copyright Committee, C.K. Kwong and I together
worked out a summary of the possible options proposed in the consultation
document and reduced same to a questionnaire which was circulated to all members
to obtain their views. Altogether 18 completed responses were received and on
basis thereof, Douglas Clark, another member of the Copyright Committee, edited a
full response on behalf of our Association, which was submitted to the Commerce,
Industry Branch, Commerce, Industry and Technology Bureau on 9 May 2007.
4. CEPA
On 1 November 2006, I was invited together with representatives from The Law
Society and HKITMP to attend an informal discussion with Mr. Stephen Selby on
the latest development of CEPA. Essentially, our views were sought as to how we
can take advantage of the National IP Strategy Formulation being undertaken in
China such that the Hong Kong profession can benefit.
PRC Patent Agents Qualification Examinations
23 March 2007, a notice relating to the National Qualification Examination for
Patent Agents 2007 together with a summary of the relevant examination
arrangements was circulated to all members. Members were also informed of the
outline for the preparatory course in June.
5.
Events & Activities
 Our Association have participated in the following events:

On behalf of APAA, on the 23 October 2006 I attended the launch
ceremony of the Genuine Business Software Campaign jointly organized
by the IPD, Business Software Alliance and the Customs & Excise
Department.

I was invited by the IPD to attend a dinner with the Commissioner of the
State IP Office, Mr. Tian Lipu, on the 25 February 2007 together with
representatives from other IP organizations in Hong Kong and IPD
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officers.

Ms. Vivian Lui, representative of our organization member Lovells, spoke
on behalf of our Association at a seminar on “Intellectual Property and the
Development of Small and Medium Enterprises (Zhuhai)” on 3 April
2007 which was jointly organized by the Hong Kong Trade Development
Council, the Guangdong Provincial Intellectual Property Office, the
Municipal Government of Zhuhai and the IPD. An invitation to attend
this seminar was also extended to all our members.

I attended a lunch discussion with representatives from the IPD, The Law
Society and HKITMP on the 25 April 2007 on issues relating to online
data leakage by the IPD.

Ms. Peggy Cheung, our council member, would be representing our
Association to speak at the “Mainland-HK and Macao SARs Intellectual
Property Symposium 2007” on 24 October 2007 jointly organized by the
IPD, The State IP Office and the Macao SAR Economic Services. Our
members have also been invited to attend this symposium.
In addition, our members were invited to attend/ participate in the following:

An intellectual property rights seminar organized by AmCham’s
Intellectual Property Commerce on 9 November 2006.

“APEC IPR Public Education and Awareness Platform 2006, Workshop
on Effective Strategies for IP Public Education” held on 8 – 10
November 2006 at Regal Airport Hotel, Hong Kong.

“Intellectual Asset Management Seminar” organized by the IPD with
support of Federation of Hong Kong Industries, Hong Kong General
Chamber of Commerce and Hong Kong Trade Development Council
held at The Excelsior Hotel, Hong Kong on 21 – 22 November 2006.

An Intellectual Property Symposium organized by the IPD in
collaboration with the State IP Office and the Macao SAR Economic
Services held in Haikou, the Hainan Province, PRC on 12 – 13
December 2006.

The general meeting of LES China, Hong Kong Chapter held on 15
December 2006.

A lecture on “IPR Enforcement and Global Village” by Mr. Stanford K
McCoy, Chief Negotiator for IP Enforcement at the Office of the US
Trade Representative, held on 20 March 2007.

A lecture on “2007: A year of change-An update on procedures and
practices in the UK” by Mr. Mike Reynolds, Principal Hearing Office
with the UK Trade Marks Registry, held on 30 March 2007.
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6.

A seminar on “Exchange Activities for Intellectual Property
Intermediaries in the Pan-PRD Region” organized by The Macao SAR
Economic Services held in Macao on 15 and 16 May 2007.

A seminar on “Exploring Marketing Opportunities on Supporting the
Olympic Equistrian Events” co-organized by the IPD held on 22 May
2007.

A High-level Seminar on IP Laws organized by Judges’ Society of the
People’s Republic of China held in Qingdao from 26 – 30 May 2007 and
in Guangzhou from 20 – 23 October 2007.
APAA Prize
This year the APAA Prize in Issues in Intellectual Property Law or in Copyright
Law has been awarded by the Broad of Examiners in Law, the University of Hong
Kong, Faculty of Law, to Miss So Kwok Yue who has achieved the best result in
the course “Intellectual Property Law”.
The award will be presented at the Faculty Graduation Ceremony to be held on 17
November 2007.
7.
Committees
Committee members approved at the last AGM and formally appointed at the
APAA Council Meeting in Kaoshung 2006 are as follows:
Name of Committee
Designated Members
Copyright
Alice Chan
Douglas Clark
Anita Leung
Design
Yvonne Chua
Twiggy Liu
Kenny Wong
Trade Marks
Andrea Fong
Rebecca Lo
Anthony Tong
Patents
Peggy Cheung
Michael Flint
Tsang Chin Wah
Anti-Counterfeiting
Gilbert Collins
Tan Loke Khoon
Yu Hoi Man Adelaide
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Emerging IP Rights
8.
Mena Lo
Chloe Lee
)
Gabriela Kennedy )
appointed subsequent to
our last AGM when it was
confirmed that we are
entitled to have 3
members, instead of 1, for
this committee.
2009 General Assembly/Council Meetings
At the Council Meeting in Kaoshiung in November 2006, Hong Kong was
formally approved to be the venue for the APAA General Assembly and Council
Meetings in 2009.
An Organizing Committee has since been formed comprising of the following
members:
Peggy Cheung (Chair)
Anne Choi
Justin Davidson
Mike Flint
Andrea Fong
Timothy Hancock
CK Kwong
Rebecca Lo
Ted Marr
Henry Wheare
Deanna Wong
The 1st meeting of the Committee was held on 19 December 2006. This was
followed by meetings with ten (10) professional conference organisers on 2
consecutive evenings on 22 and 23 January 2007. After due consideration, four
(4) PCOs were shortlisted to provide a preliminary budget for the 2009
event. Each of the PCO proposal possesses different favourable and
not-so-favourable factors. Some rather creative programmes were suggested by
two(2) of the PCOs.
Another Committee meeting was held on 6 June 2007. Swire Travels was
subsequently invited to give a presentation on its proposal and budget to
Committee members on 12 July 2007. A unanimous decision was reached
amongst members of the Committee to engage the services of Swire Travels after
the meeting.
The next steps will be to sign a contract to appoint Swire Travels to organize the
2009 meeting, and we anticipate that further regular meetings will be held
between Swire Travels and the Committee to finalize venues, meeting
programme, excursion visits and other details of the 2009 meeting. Members of
the Committee will each form and lead a sub-committee for the different
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functions and events of the 2009 meeting.
9. Money held in account
Our Council have periodically brought this item up for discussion in meetings and
so far no decision for conversion into other currencies has been made.
10. Conclusion
Once again, I would like to thank all members who have contributed in one way
or another to our Association in the past year. I however hope that more members
will actively participate in activities in which our Association are invited to take
part and respond where our views to consultation are sought from time to time.
ANNE CHOI
President
October 2007
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