Hong Kong Inventors Association
Sept 2004 Monthly Topic II      Disclaimer
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More past Q & A of Inventions & IP in " F A Q " web page

star After publication of the outlines of the talk on Technology Licence by our Honorary Consultant, Ms. Rebecca Lo, we received enquiry from Tommy, ZHOW and Lily about Technology Licensing , unprotected disclosure of inventions , information in the public domain, and patent searches . As the information may be of use to our members, we have Ms. Lo's permission to publish her answers to the enquiries. Thanks the help of Rebecca , she help to answer these questions . Thank You


My name is Tommy. After watch all web pages of Technology Licensing Seminar, I have some question. ,
1. Does all invention suitable to Technology Licensing. I mean what basic requirement must be met before that invention can be Technology License ,
2. Some friend told me only some Hi Tech & Very complicate system can be Technology Licensing like Oil Refinery Plant. Is that True? ,
Rebecca Lo's reply ,


Email from ZHOW, ,
I have a Creative idea about Engine. If I success, it will be .... Invention. I have do some research. I have got some research result. I can say it is a breakthrough. But I have difficult to make prototype engine. I know someone in overseas also research same engine. May I publish that result on my personal web site, So that everyone research same invention can use my data. ,
1. Can I say I am co-inventor when they use my data to invent? And share the profit with them? If not, what should I do? ,

2. Some friend told me I need to IP searching before going on. If someone else already invent/got patent of that type of engine. It is wasting time for further research. Is it true? They told me I need to search patent in USA & Europe. I only know H K IPD provide web site for free searching of Patent register in HK. Can you provide some other free IP searching for Europe & USA. ,
Rebecca Lo's reply

Email from Lily, ,
1. How can I know some product have got patent or not. How to check it out ? ,
2. What is Public Asset? ,
3. May inventor use copyright or some other means to gain fee from user when one's patent expired. ,
4. Can anyone got patent for some traditional product like Chinese Folding Fan. As this product are without patent/inventor, then got charge from user. ,
Rebecca Lo's reply
Rebecca Lo's reply ,

1. The subject matter of a technology licence can be any proprietary intellectual property right, mainly patent, design or copyright, but sometimes trademarks may also be a part of the package. The right to confidential information or knowhow can also be the subject of a technology licence. ,
2. Not all technology in the market are high technology. ,
star Review of The Content of Ms Rebecca LO's Technology Licensing Seminar 24/6 ,
.

3. Patent rights and Design rights can be acquired only through a registration process, and one pre-requisite to getting a valid registration is that the invention or the design is novel as at the date of application. ZHOW must not publish his invention in his website. Once the invention is published before a patent application is filed, the invention will be in the public domain, and ZHOW will permanently lose the right to get a valid patent for the invention in most countries in the world. Once a technology is in the public domain, everybody can use it without any obligation to pay for it. ZHOW cannot, by making an unprotected disclosure of his technology in his website, claim to be co-inventor with third parties who use the information disclosed in the website. ZHOW is advised to seek professional help to protect his invention first before disclosing his invention to any third party. ,

4. Most big patent offices provide some form of free database search facilities. Some website addresses are:-
Hong Kong Intellectual Property Department http://ipsearch.ipd.gov
SIPO of China PRC http://www.sipo.gov.cn
United States Patent & Trademark Office http://www.uspto.gov
European Patent Office http://www.europe-patent-office.org
World Intellectual Property Organisation http://www.wipo.int
,
5. Patent and design rights are territorial rights. If an inventor wants to find out whether a particular technology is protected by patent or design in a particular jurisdiction or region, he should conduct searches in that particular jurisdiction or region. Please note that for most jurisdictions, patent applications are not published until 18 months after an application is filed, so searches may not locate recently filed applications. Some applications for national patent protection (e.g. US national patent applications) will not be published until a patent is granted, which could be years after the filing of an application. As such patent searching is not easy for a lay person, and it is advisable to consult patent professionals. ,
6. Technology or information in the public domain means no-one can claim proprietary right to the technology or the information. Everyone can use the technology or information without having to pay for the right to use it. ,
7. Different rights attach to different kinds of intellectual property. There is no general rule as to whether or not an inventor can seek protection of his invention through copyright when his patent expires. In many jurisdictions, the term of protection of copyright relating to the external, non-functional, features of an industrial product is even shorter than the term of protection of a normal patent. ,
8. Traditional knowledge is in the public domain and everybody can use it without having to pay for it. However, there may be inventive applications of something traditional, or inventive processes to make something traditional. It may be possible to get patent protection for such inventive applications or processes. ,

Thanks to our Honorary Consultant, Ms. Rebecca Lo, Thank You ,

The above are general answers and do not cater for specific situations. The answers intend to highlight issues, but are not comprehensive and must not be treated as legal advice. ,

* The above question and answer just abstraction, not include the whole event, so it just for reference only.
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