Hong Kong Regulations

TRADE MARKS RULES - RULE 16

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PROCEDURE ON RECEIPT OF AN APPLICATION FOR REGISTRATION OF A TRADE MARK

(1) Upon receipt of an application for the registration of a trade mark in
respect of any goods or services the Registrar shall, for the appropriate
purpose specified in subrule (2) or (3), cause a search to be made amongst the
registered marks and pending applications and the Registrar may cause the
search to be renewed at any time before the acceptance of the application, but
shall not be bound to do so.

(2) In the case of an application for the registration of a trade mark
relating to goods in respect of any goods the appropriate purpose mentioned in
subrule (1) is that of ascertaining whether, for the same goods, for the same
description of goods or for services or a description of services associated
with the goods or goods of that description, there are on record any marks
identical with the mark applied for or so nearly resembling it as to render
the mark applied for likely to deceive or cause confusion.

(3) In the case of an application for the registration of a trade mark
relating to services in respect of any services the appropriate purpose
mentioned in subrule (1) is that of ascertaining whether, for the same
services, for the same description of services or for goods or a description
of goods associated with the services or services of that description, there
are on record any marks identical with the mark applied for or so nearly
resembling it as to render the mark applied for likely to deceive or cause
confusion. (Enacted 1992)