The Intellectual Property Department of the Hong Kong SAR government will continue to help Hong Kong-funded small and medium enterprises (SMEs) operating in the Pearl River Delta in familiarizing them with intellectual property systems and policies of the mainland and Hong Kong respectively.

The department will also help the SMEs apply for copyright and trademark registrations to save them from breaching mainland laws because of lack of knowledge of the law.

Besides, the department has also assisted the mainland enterprises applying for copyright and trademark registrations in Hong Kong, director of Intellectual Property Stephen Selby said yesterday.

Addressing a press conference after the 5th meeting of the Guangdong/Hong Kong Expert Group on the Protection of Intellectual Properties held locally, Selby said the department had successfully promoted IP protection in both places since the expert group was formed in 2003. For example, trademark applications filed by the mainland enterprises rose by 4 per cent in 2003 to 10 per cent in 2005, of which 40 per cent came from the Guangdong Province.

The leader of the Guangdong delegation, Li Zhongduo, who is also director-general of Guangdong Provincial Intellectual Property Office, praised the work of the expert group. After the "No Fakes" Pledge scheme, which guarantees the customers that only legitimate goods are sold in shops that bear such labels, was introduced in four cities as a pilot test. It has been very well received, while the IP training for their staff in Hong Kong was very successful.

"It has greatly enhanced our customers' confidence. We are very stringent with issue of the No-Fakes labels to the shops. If they have promised to join the scheme, they must sell only legitimate goods in their shops and we have not detected cases of fake goods mixed with proper ones," Li said. "If we detect such cases, we will withdraw the labels and hand the shops to relevant government departments to find if they have broken the law."

Their next joint projects in the second half of the year include the study on creative industry, as well as exchange programmes for primary and secondary teachers from the two places.

(HK Edition 06/23/2006 page2)