The Economic Services Bureau (DSE) received some 3,417 applications for industrial property registration during the third quarter of the year, according to the latest official data released by the government department last week. The number, compared to 3,442 applications received during the same period of last year, represents a slight drop of 0.73 per cent. In addition, it means a decrease of 1.21 per cent from 3,459 during the second quarter of the year. However, the official data did not reveal how many applications it had approved for the quarter. The data reveals that most of the applications, nearly 95 per cent of the total, were for registering trademarks in the Special Administrative Region, amounting to 3,230. Compared to the previous quarter, the number is a decline of 2.09 per cent, or 0.95 per cent year-on-year. Nevertheless, applications for registering other types of intellectual property rights registered a notable increase in the three months. According to DSE, the number of applications for invention patent and extension posted a quarter-on-quarter increase of 31.3 per cent and 21.5 per cent, accounting for 21 and 96 of the total applications, respectively. On a year-on-year comparison, however, the number of applications for invention patents plunged 46.1 per cent, while that for extending patents increased 11.6 per cent. In addition, more enterprises applied for the rights of industrial design or model between July and September. The number of applications totalled 60, up 9.09 per cent quarter-on-quarter, or 30.4 per cent year-on-year. Meanwhile, applications for utility patents, and those for registering the name and emblem of an establishment remained at 4 and 6 as per the previous quarter, respectively. Cumulatively, the economic bureau received some 10,655 applications for registering intellectual rights during the first nine months of the year, of which 10,099 were for registering trademarks, while some 268 and 190 were for applying to register an extension of invention patent, and industrial design or model, respectively.
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