Hong Kong start-ups urged to be more vigilant in intellectual property rights

Awareness among start-ups still premature.

Hong Kong is all up on its toes to develop itself into an intellectual property trading hub of the Asian region, if not of the world. 

In an exclusive interview, Nicholas Brooke, a member of HKSAR's working group on IP trading, said that geographically, Hong Kong presents a major opportunity for regional IP trading and management.

However, the awareness of start-ups with regards to intellectual property rights and trading pose as a threat to Hong Kong's ambition as they tend to be lax when it comes to IP. "The spirit of collaboration among start-ups could get a little too much, and this makes us concerned about their IP rights," Brooke said.

Gregory So, Secretary for Commerce & Economic Development, reckoned that the culture of IP protection among start-ups is still in its early stage as they are still ''slightly unaware'' of how to deal with IP rights and protection. "What the government does is they urge start-ups to really get serious on the registration of patents," he said.