Campus Digest

EUAP Hong Kong kicks off its Intellectual Property Hong Kong-European Union Series 2013

10 Sep 2013

The European Union Academic Programme (EUAP) Hong Kong held an expert mini- conference on 2 September to kick off its Intellectual Property Hong Kong-European Union Series 2013 with eminent guest speakers from the European Union and the HKSAR Government.

The conference on “Hong Kong - European Union Cooperation in Protecting and Developing Intellectual Property and Brands: Current Situation and Future Trends”, which attracted over 150 participants, featured five presentations and two panel discussions. Professor Rick Wong, Vice-President (Research and Development) of HKBU, and Mr. Stefan Amarasinha, Head of Trade and Economic Section, EU Office to Hong Kong and Macau, officiated at the opening ceremony.

Mr. Anders Jessen, Head of Unit for Public Procurement and Intellectual Property, Directorate General Trade, European Commission Brussels, and Mr. Mayan Vaid, Intellectual Property Director, Louis Vuitton Asia-Pacific Ltd., welcomed Hong Kong’s comprehensive, constructive intellectual property rights measures. They also appreciated the enormous progress made by the government on the Mainland. Nonetheless cases of counterfeiting and smuggling are actually increasing up to a point where they may threaten Europe’s innovative industry and therefore EU-China trade relations as a whole.

In reply, Mr. Albert Ho, Assistant Commissioner, Intelligence and Investigation Branch, Hong Kong Customs, outlined various existing systems of intelligence and monitoring criminal activities in cooperation with Mainland and EU authorities.

Mr. Matthew Laight, EU China IPR SME Helpdesk Expert, emphasised that companies can protect themselves to a considerable degree by meticulously paying attention to intellectual property rights registrations in China and internationally as well as contract-based relationships with Chinese partners and, not the least, internal company organisation. In actual cases of fraud, however, the enforcement of registered intellectual property rights remains a lengthy process

In that context, Mr. Peter Cheung, Director, Intellectual Property Department, HKSAR Government, explained new efforts undertaken by the HKSAR Government as well as innovative entrepreneurs to assist in ‘monetising’ (i.e. defining, registering and protecting) sensitive knowledge of and within companies.

The Intellectual Property Hong Kong-European Union Series 2013 will include a series of conferences and public seminars as well as a creative arts competition with the general theme of protecting intellectual property rights and brands in business and creative industries in Hong Kong. The series is organised by EUAP Hong Kong in collaboration with the European Chamber of Commerce, the European Brands Protection Council and supported by the Intellectual Property Department of the HKSAR Government, the Office of the European Union to Hong Kong and Macau, Hong Kong Design Institute, Hong Kong Design Center, and the Department of Marketing, the Academy of Visual Arts and the Academy of Film of the School of Communication at HKBU as well as a number of private enterprises.