Hong Kong Ordinances

PATENTS ORDINANCE - SECT 50

Nature of, and transactions in, patents and applications for patents

PART V

PROPERTY IN PATENTS AND APPLICATIONS; REGISTRATION

(1) Any patent or application for a patent is personal property

(without being a thing in action), and any patent or any such application and
rights in or under it may be transferred, created or granted in accordance
with subsections (2) to (7).

(2) Subject to section 54, any patent or any such application, or any right in
it, may be assigned or mortgaged.

(3) Any patent or any such application or right shall vest by operation of law
in the same way as any other personal property and may be vested by an assent
of personal representatives.

(4) Subject to section 54, a licence may be granted under any patent or any
such application for working the invention which is the subject of the patent
or the application; and-

   (a)  to the extent that the licence so provides, a sub-licence may be
        granted under any such licence and any such licence or sub-licence may
        be assigned or mortgaged; and

   (b)  any such licence or sub-licence shall vest by operation of law in the
        same way as any other personal property and may be vested by an assent
        of personal representatives.

(5) Subsections (2) to (4) shall have effect subject to this Ordinance.

(6) Any of the following transactions, that is to say-

   (a)  any assignment or mortgage of a patent or any such application, or any
        right in a patent or any such application;

   (b)  any assent relating to any patent or any such application or right,
        shall be void unless it is in writing and is signed by or on behalf of
        the assignor, mortgagor or party granting such assent as the case may
        be (or, in the case of an assent or other transaction by a personal
        representative, by or on behalf of the personal representative) or in
        the case of a body corporate is so signed or is under the seal of that
        body.

(7) An assignment of a patent or any such application or a share in it, and an
exclusive licence granted under any patent or any such application, may confer
on the assignee or licensee the right of the assignor or licensor to bring
proceedings by virtue of section 80 or 88 for a previous infringement or to
bring proceedings under section 72 for a previous act. [cf. 1977 c. 37 s. 30
U.K.]