The 2026 Policy Address delivered by the Hong Kong SAR Government on 16 September sets out several intellectual property measures under the heading of developing a regional IP trading centre. On patents, the Intellectual Property Department will continue to develop and expand its patent examination team, strengthen its in-house examination capacity for original grant patent (OGP) applications in major technology fields, and roll out pilot facilitation measures for the relevant OGP applications in 2027. On patent agents, the Government has completed an industry consultation on the framework for regulating local patent agency services and the key issues involved; the industry generally supports a registration regime for patent agency services and agrees that professional titles and qualification requirements for registration should be provided for. A public consultation will be launched in 2026 and specific legislative proposals will be formulated in 2027. The address also states that the Hong Kong Intellectual Property Academy will be officially launched in the fourth quarter of 2026, that a bill will be introduced in 2026 to implement tax deductions for capital expenditure on purchasing IP rights or licences to use them, that the next phase of the IP financing sandbox is being prepared, and that a Strategy Committee on Intellectual Property Trading Development will be set up.
Neither of the two measures changes the rules immediately; both set a medium-term institutional direction. A larger examination team lets the department examine OGP applications in more major technology fields itself, but the scope, conditions and timetable of the facilitation pilot have not been published. Once a registration regime for patent agents is enacted, there will for the first time be statutory rules on who may practise in Hong Kong under the title of patent agent and with what qualifications, and transitional arrangements for existing practitioners will be a focus of the public consultation. J&C recommends that companies planning patent filings in Hong Kong decide, before the details of the 2027 pilot appear, which applications suit the original grant route and which are better re-registered as standard patents from a mainland or European patent, and watch for the department's pilot announcements; firms offering patent agency services in Hong Kong should study the qualification and professional-title provisions of the 2026 public consultation paper, assess their staff against them and submit views in time.
