Intellectual property · Hong Kong
Trademark registration in Hong Kong
Hong Kong is first-to-file and a separate jurisdiction from mainland China: a China trademark gives you nothing here. We search, file with the IPD, close the gap most brands miss, and watch the register so the mark stays yours.
Why register
What a registered mark gets you in Hong Kong
Hong Kong is first-to-file with a common-law footnote: an unregistered brand can sue for passing off, but that means proving goodwill in court instead of showing a certificate. And it is its own jurisdiction, separate from mainland China and Macau, so a China registration protects you here not at all. Here is what a Hong Kong certificate gives you once it's yours.
The exclusive right to your name
Registration gives you the exclusive right to use the mark for your registered goods and services across Hong Kong, with rights backdated to the filing date, and the standing to stop anyone else using it or anything confusingly close: competitors, copycats, and the distributor who decides the brand should be his.
The enforcement toolkit
Hong Kong Customs runs one of the region's most active criminal anti-counterfeiting regimes, and customs recordation, marketplace takedowns, and infringement actions before efficient courts all run on the certificate. With it, you are enforcing. Without it, you are writing letters nobody must answer.
An asset, not just a defense
A registered mark can be licensed to your distributor, franchised, or sold outright, and it's what acquirers and investors look for when they price your business. At HK$2,000 for the first class for ten years of protection, renewable forever, in a clean and trusted register, it's the cheapest asset you'll ever put on the balance sheet.
What can be registered
Almost anything that identifies you, if it's distinctive.
A registrable mark identifies your business rather than describing the product. Generic and purely descriptive terms are refused, and so are marks confusingly similar to existing registrations in your classes.
Word marksBrand names, company names, taglines, and letter or number marks, the most common filing.
Logos & devicesVisual symbols and graphic elements, registered as you use them.
Combined marksWords and graphics together, protecting the lock-up as a whole.
Shapes & 3D marksThe form of a product or its packaging, provided the shape is not functional.
Color marksSpecific colors or combinations, registrable where they are distinctive and clearly represented.
Sound, shape & other signsHong Kong registers any sign that distinguishes your goods and can be represented, with shapes and sounds the common non-traditional cases.
Every application names the goods and services it covers, grouped under the Nice Classification's 45 classes, and one application can cover several classes. One point worth repeating, because it costs brands real money: the Hong Kong register is entirely separate from mainland China's and Macau's. A mark you need in all three is three filings, and we run them so the dates line up.
The process
How registration works
Five stages with the IPD, all available online, with examination before publication and your rights backdated to the filing date. Plan six to twelve months from filing to certificate when nothing is contested, among the faster offices in the region.
1
Search before filingDays
We search the IPD's records, using both the text database and its image mark finder for logos, for identical and confusingly similar marks in your classes. The application fee is non-refundable, so a conflict you could have found in a search is a fee paid twice. If you also need mainland China or Macau, those are separate searches on separate registers.
2
FilingDays
We file through the IPD's e-filing system with the mark, the classes, and a declaration of intent to use. Hong Kong requires a local address for service, not a P.O. box or a virtual office, and foreign applicants without a presence here appoint a local agent; we provide both. A multi-class brand files as one application.
3
Examination2–4 months
The IPD runs a formality check and a substantive examination, assessing distinctiveness and, unlike some offices, conflicts with earlier marks on relative grounds. Objections are answered within the period the Registrar sets, up to six months, and we draft the responses.
4
Publication and opposition3 months
The accepted mark is published in the Hong Kong Intellectual Property Journal, opening a three-month window for oppositions. Most applications pass through quietly; if yours is opposed, we represent you, and we watch the window either way.
5
Registration and certificateOn approval
With the window closed or any opposition resolved, the mark registers and the certificate issues, with no separate registration fee: Hong Kong charges at filing and nothing more to grant. Ten years of protection from the filing date, renewable indefinitely. What keeps it alive from here is worth reading twice.
The checklist
Key requirements for trademark registration in Hong Kong
The documents and details the IPD needs before the application can be filed. The list is short, nothing needs notarizing, and most clients send everything in one email.
- A clear representation of the mark. The logo file in high resolution, or the word mark exactly as you use it.
- What it covers. Your products or services, described in your own words; we map them to the Nice classes and draft the specification.
- Applicant details. The full legal name and address of the person or company that will own the mark.
- A Hong Kong address for service. Required, and it can't be a P.O. box or a virtual office; foreign applicants without a presence here also appoint a local agent. We provide both, with nothing notarized.
- Priority documents, only if applicable. Where you're claiming priority from an application filed abroad within the last six months, with a Chinese or English translation if needed.
Keeping it alive
No use declarations here. Registrations still die in four ways
Hong Kong asks for a declaration of intent to use at filing and nothing periodic after it, which lulls owners into treating the certificate as permanent. It isn't, and the failure modes are predictable.
Missed renewalsProtection runs ten years from the filing date. Renewal files within the six months before expiry, with a six-month grace period after at a higher fee (HK$2,670 per class on the current schedule). A lapse opens a gap, and in a first-to-file system, gaps get filed into.
Three years of non-useA mark unused in Hong Kong for three continuous years from registration can be revoked on application. Keeping dated evidence of use (sales, listings, packaging, campaigns) is cheap insurance against a claim that otherwise turns into archaeology.
Unwatched publicationsThe opposition window is three months from publication in the IP Journal. If nobody is watching it for you, a confusingly similar mark passes the examiner once and registers; stopping it afterwards means invalidation proceedings instead of a short opposition.
A lapsed address for serviceHong Kong reaches you through your registered address for service. If it goes stale, the notices that matter, an opposition, a renewal reminder, a cancellation action, never arrive, and deadlines pass in silence. We keep yours current as your records change.
Our service builds all four into the engagement: the renewal calendared a decade out, use evidence kept with the file, a watch on the journal, and the address for service kept live so nothing reaches a dead letterbox.
What it costs
The IPD charges at filing and nothing to grant: HK$2,000 for the first class and HK$1,000 for each additional class, with no separate registration fee. Renewals run HK$2,670 per class on the current schedule. Emerhub's fee for the search, filing, and prosecution is quoted on request per class, with office actions, oppositions, and renewals quoted as they arise.
Why Emerhub
Filed by the team that's already here.
Already on the ground
The same Hong Kong team that sets up companies and runs their compliance files your trademark, and serves as your local agent and address for service. Most marks ride alongside a market entry, and the timing between the two is part of the advice.
A straight answer before you spend
The filing fee is non-refundable, so this matters: if the search shows your mark is weak, descriptive, or already taken, we tell you before you pay, with options: adjust the mark, add distinctive elements, or challenge what's blocking you.
We keep it alive
Many providers file and disappear. Hong Kong registrations are won and lost at the renewal, the three-year use rule, the opposition window, and a live address for service, so ours come with the calendar and the watch built in.
Common questions
Hong Kong trademark FAQs
Specific questions about registering and keeping a mark in Hong Kong.
Does my mainland China trademark protect me in Hong Kong?
No, and this is the misunderstanding that costs brands the most here. Hong Kong is a separate jurisdiction with its own register under the Trade Marks Ordinance; a mark registered with CNIPA in mainland China gives you no rights in Hong Kong, and the reverse is equally true. Macau is separate again. If you sell in more than one of them, you file in each, and we line the filings up so the priority dates work together.
Does registering my company protect my brand name?
No. The company name on the Companies Registry only stops someone from registering an identical company name; it gives no trademark rights. Your brand needs its own IPD registration, and until it has one, anyone can file for it, including your distributor.
How long does registration take?
Six to twelve months from filing to certificate when nothing is contested: a substantive examination over two to four months, the three-month publication window, then registration with no further fee. Objections or an opposition extend that. Either way, protection runs from the filing date, so the examination months cost you nothing in coverage.
What does it cost?
The IPD charges HK$2,000 for the first class and HK$1,000 for each additional class at filing, with no separate registration fee, and the fees are non-refundable, which is why the search comes first. Our fee covers the search, the filing, and the prosecution to certificate, quoted per class; contested matters are quoted as they arise. Schedule a call with your mark and product list and we'll give you the exact figure.
Someone already registered my brand. What can I do?
It depends where their filing stands. If it's within the three-month publication window, we oppose. If it's registered, the routes are invalidation proceedings, a revocation application once the mark has sat unused for three continuous years, or, where you genuinely traded here first, a passing-off claim, valuable, expensive, and no substitute for having filed first. Negotiated purchase and coexistence are also real options. We assess which fits before you spend on any of them.
What is the Nice Classification, and can I file multiple classes?
The international system that groups all goods and services into 45 classes. Your registration protects the mark in the classes you file, so the class choice defines the protection. Hong Kong allows multi-class applications, with the official fee counted per class, HK$2,000 for the first and HK$1,000 for each one after.
What happens if someone opposes my application?
They have three months from publication, extendable on request. The proceedings run on evidence and submissions before the Registrar, with a hearing if it gets that far, and many oppositions settle on coexistence or amended specifications rather than running to a decision. We prepare the defense and tell you honestly when settling beats fighting.
Do I have to prove I'm using the mark?
You declare an intent to use at filing, and nothing periodic after that. The use rule bites differently: a mark unused for three continuous years from registration can be revoked on application, so the protection is only as strong as your evidence of use. We keep dated proof (sales records, listings, packaging, campaigns) with the file, so a revocation claim meets a wall instead of a gap.
Can I use the Madrid System for Hong Kong?
Not yet. Hong Kong is not a member of the Madrid System, so you file directly with the IPD, and a Madrid application cannot designate Hong Kong even when it covers mainland China. The government has signaled an intention to join, but it is not in force, so for now a Hong Kong mark is always a separate, direct national filing.
How does renewal work?
The registration renews every ten years, counted from the filing date. The renewal files within the six months before expiry, with a six-month grace period after it at a higher fee (HK$2,670 per class on the current schedule); miss both and the mark lapses. We calendar yours the day the certificate issues.
Protecting a brand in Hong Kong?
Talk to our Hong Kong team
A free, no-obligation consultation: thirty minutes with our Hong Kong team to check your mark, settle the classes, and map the filing, including how it lines up with mainland China if you need both.
Emailinfo@emerhub.com
Phone / WhatsApp+60 17 684 9718
OfficeRoom 06, 13A/F, South Tower
World Finance Centre
17 Canton Road
Hong Kong
World Finance Centre
17 Canton Road
Hong Kong