### Patents Ordinance 《專利條例》

9C. Inventive step
(1) An invention is to be regarded as involving an inventive step if, having regard to the state of the art, it is not obvious to a person skilled in the art.
(2) For the purposes of subsection (1), if the state of the art also comprises the contents of the applications falling within section 9B(3), those applications are not to be considered in deciding whether there has been an inventive step.

9D. Industrial application
An invention is to be regarded as susceptible of industrial application if it can be made or used in any kind of industry, including agriculture.

9E. Right to patent belongs to inventor
(1) Subject to subsections (2) and (3), the right to a patent belongs to the inventor or the inventor’s successor in title.
(2) If the inventor is an employee, the right to the patent is to be determined—
(a) in accordance with the law of the country, territory or area in which the employee is wholly or mainly employed; or
(b) if the identity of the country, territory or area cannot be determined, in accordance with the law of the country, territory or area where the employer’s place of business to which the employee is attached is located.
(3) If 2 or more persons have made an invention independently of each other, the right to a patent for the invention belongs to the person whose patent application has the earlier or earliest material date (as the case requires).
(4) Subsection (3) does not apply to a standard patent application that has not been published under section 20 or 37Q.

9F. Mention of inventor
(1) The inventor or joint inventors of an invention have a right to be mentioned as such in—
(a) any published patent application for the invention; and
(b) any patent granted for the invention.
(2) If a person has been mentioned as the sole inventor or a joint inventor of an invention because of this section, any other person who alleges that the person ought not to have been so mentioned may request the Registrar to make a finding to that effect.
(3) If the Registrar makes such a finding, the Registrar—
(a) must accordingly amend the register;
(b) must advertise the fact of the amendment by notice in the official journal; and
(c) may issue a certificate of the finding to the person who made the request.

### Patents Ordinance 《專利條例》

10. General provision regarding applications for standard patents (R)
(Amended 17 of 2016 s. 13)This Part shall be construed as providing for the grant of a standard patent (R) for an invention in the following circumstances, and only in those circumstances, namely where— (Amended 17 of 2016 s. 13)
(a) an application for a patent for that invention has been filed in and published by a designated patent office;
(b) as the first stage of an application for a standard patent (R), the designated patent application has been recorded in the register and published in Hong Kong in accordance with sections 15 to 22; 
(c) a patent has been granted in the designated patent office in pursuance of the designated patent application; and
(d) as the second stage of the application for a standard patent (R), the designated patent has been registered in accordance with sections 23 to 27. 
(Amended 17 of 2016 s. 13)

11. Formality examination of applications for standard patent (R)
(Amended 17 of 2016 s. 14)Except as expressly provided to the contrary, nothing in this Part providing for the examination by the Registrar of an application for a standard patent (R) for an invention shall be construed as imposing upon the Registrar any obligation to consider or to have regard to, for the purpose of such examination, any question as to— (Amended 17 of 2016 s. 14)
(a) the patentability of the invention;
(b) whether the applicant is entitled to any priority claimed in the application;
(c) whether the invention is properly disclosed in the application; or
(d) whether any requirement under sections 9A, 9B, 9C, 9D, 9E, 9F, 11A, 11B, 11C, 77, 78 or 79 has been complied with. (Amended 17 of 2016 s. 14)

### Patents Ordinance 《專利條例》

11A. Non-prejudicial disclosure
(1) For the purposes of section 9B, if the conditions specified in subsection (2) are satisfied, a disclosure of an invention that is the subject of a standard patent (R) application is not to be taken into consideration in determining whether the invention forms part of the state of the art.
(2) The conditions are—
(a) the disclosure occurred no earlier than 6 months before the deemed date of filing of the standard patent (R) application; and
(b) the disclosure was due to, or in consequence of—
(i) an evident abuse in relation to the applicant or a proprietor of the invention for the time being; or
(ii) the fact that the applicant or a proprietor of the invention for the time being had displayed the invention at a prescribed exhibition or meeting.
(3) Subsection (2)(b)(ii) applies only if—
(a) at the time of filing the corresponding designated patent application, the applicant stated, in accordance with the law of the designated patent office relating to non-prejudicial disclosure, that the invention had been so displayed; and
(b) the request to record the designated patent application contains a statement that indicates the prescribed details relating to the disclosure, as required under section 15(2)(f).

11B. Priority right
(1) Subsection (3) applies if the proprietor of a designated patent application for an invention, on the basis of an earlier application for a patent or other protection for the same invention filed in or for a Paris Convention country, enjoys in the designated patent office a right of priority for the period of 12 months after the date of filing of the earlier application (priority period

11C. Effect of priority right
(1) The right of priority conferred by section 11B has the effect that the date of priority enjoyed in the designated patent office is to be regarded as the date of priority of the standard patent (R) application for the purposes of this Ordinance.
(2) A standard patent (R) granted because of a standard patent (R) application in respect of which the proprietor enjoys a right of priority as provided in section 11B is not to be invalidated only because any subject-matter disclosed in the earlier application (that is to say, the application on the basis of which the right of priority is enjoyed in the designated patent office) was made available to the public at any time after the date of filing of the earlier application.

### Patents Ordinance 《專利條例》

12. Who may apply
(1) The person who may apply for the grant of a standard patent (R) for an invention is— (Amended 17 of 2016 s. 17)
(a) the person named as applicant in a designated patent application for a patent for the invention, or his successor in title to the rights under the designated patent application in Hong Kong; or
(b) in preference to the person mentioned in paragraph (a), the person who is entitled to the property in the invention in Hong Kong.
(2) Subject to any determination under section 13, the applicant for a standard patent (R) for an invention in proceedings before the Registrar shall for the purpose of those proceedings be deemed to be the person entitled to apply for the grant of a patent for that invention under subsection (1). (Amended 17 of 2016 s. 17)
[cf. 1977 c. 37 s. 7 U.K.]