Intellectual property is important to our daily lives. Intellectual property is the name commonly given to a group of separate intangible property rights. These include trade marks, patents, copyright, designs, plant varieties and the layout design of integrated circuits. Intellectual property is important to our daily lives: The brand-names logos on clothes like T-shirts, articles in the newspaper, TV programmes, pop songs, cinema films movies and fashion design all have a strong connection with intellectual property.

Why is Intellectual Property Protection Important?

Protection of intellectual property rights protects creativity. The efforts of writers, artists, designers, software programmers, inventors and other talents need to be protected so as in order to create an environment where creativity can flourish and hard work can be rewarded.

Hong Kong is a creative place. Our film production, television production, sound recordings production, publications, fashion and jewellery design and graphical design and production skills are known world-wide and enjoy a ready market overseas. Hong Kong is an international trading centre, we need to provide the necessary intellectual property rights protection to our investors to assure them of a free and fair environment in which to do business. Thus it is in our very interest to protect intellectual property rights.

What is protected?

Not all ideas, inventions or creations are protected. For example, to balance the interest of intellectual property rights owners and the society as a whole, while a pharmaceutical invention may be protected by patent registration, a special medical treatment of a disease is not protected. Also, the incorporation of a famous cartoon character into a commercial product without permission is illegal.

Source: https://www.ipd.gov.hk/eng/intellectual_property/ip_hk.htm

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