Hong Kong's first "Survey on Business Attitudes to Intellectual Property" commissioned by the Intellectual Property Department reveals that the awareness level of intellectual property rights among the business sector in Hong Kong is remarkably high.

To provide strategic insights in developing the government's policy on intellectual property for the business sector, the Intellectual Property Department initiated an annual survey on business attitudes to intellectual property. A total of 1,204 business establishments responded to the survey conducted by Mercado Solutions Associates Ltd.

More than 90 percent of respondents understood what items were protected by intellectual property and 95 percent of them considered that it was necessary to protect intellectual property rights in the business environment of Hong Kong.

The respondents in general believed that the intellectual property infringement was now quite serious.

In the survey, 85.4 percent of respondents agreed that intellectual property protection could help the development of local creative industries. About three-quarters believed that the protection of IP rights could enhance the creation of business opportunity and wealth.

"The survey indicates that businessmen in Hong Kong understand the importance of intellectual property in developing creative industries, as well as in revitalizing the economy of Hong Kong," Director of Intellectual Property Department Stephen Selby said. "That is a positive signal for us."

However, only slightly over a 12.5 percent of them had registered trademarks, patents or designs in Hong Kong even though 95 percent of respondents believed that intellectual property rights were valuable assets of a company.

The survey shows that only 7.1 percent of business establishments have carried out research and development in Hong Kong. Among these business establishments, 80.9 percent have searched the patent register to ensure that they would not infringe other's inventions while 85.3 percent of them knew that by searching the patent register, they could find useful ideas for developing into new inventions.

"Although almost 70 percent of business establishments understand the difference between trademark registration and business/company registration, the government will continue to step up effort in clearing up any misunderstandings of our intellectual protection system," Selby said.

Selby noted that while the businessmen recognize that intellectual property rights are valuable assets for a company, some of them are not taking appropriate measures to protect their own rights by registering their trademarks, patents or designs.

"This survey provides useful insights for us. Clearly, we need to strengthen our efforts in promoting the protection of intellectual property rights among the business community," he said.

Editor: Wing