Affordable Innovation: Reduced official fees for design registration | Hogan Lovells
[co-author: Carrie Yuen]
The Hong Kong Designs Registry has recently announced a reduction in official fees relating to design registration and post-registration services. The reduction of fees is one of the initiatives outlined in the Chief Executive’s 2023 Policy Address, aimed at promoting the development of intellectual property trading in Hong Kong. The primary objectives of this policy are to facilitate timely registration of designs, encourage the use of electronic filing, and drive innovation through registered designs. The revised fees will come into effect starting on 1 March 2024 and will apply to applications fees paid on or after this date.
Fee reductions
Fee reductions are applied across various key services of the Designs Registry:
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Application for registration of design (filing fee): 60% discount for paper filing and 70% for electronic filing.
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Application for registration of design (advertising fee): 60% discount.
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Renewal of design registration: 10% to 40% discount, depending on the renewal period.
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Other services, such as amendments of applications and documents: approximate 20% discount.
For detailed information on the new fee structure, please refer to the Registry’s table of revised official fees.
Encouraging electronic filing
The Designs Registry has introduced preferential pricing for electronic filing. The fees for paper filing applications have been reduced to a range between HK$235 and HK$630, a substantial cut from the former fees of HK$590 to HK$1,570. Electronic filing applications are set to benefit even more, with fees now ranging from HK$175 to HK$470.
With 86% of design registration applications currently submitted online, the Designs Registry aims to further boost this figure by offering a more economical fee for electronic submissions.
Progressive discount rates for renewal fees
Design registrations are eligible for renewal every five years, extending protection for a maximum of 25 years. The current fee structure for renewals is progressive, increasing with each subsequent renewal. This model is designed to encourage innovators to evaluate the necessity of maintaining registrations for designs that may no longer be in use, thereby preventing disused registered designs from hindering innovation.
To align with this policy objective, the Design Registry has implemented tiered discounts for renewals. These discounts are set at 40%, 30%, 20%, and 10% for the first to fourth renewal periods, respectively.
With these fee adjustments, the cumulative cost for the full 25-year protection term will decrease from HK$6,440 to HK$5,140, representing a total discount of 20%.
Conclusion
With the implementation of the revised fees, the Designs Registry has made design registration more affordable and accessible to creators and businesses.
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