Both copyright and trademark share the task of protection for intellectual property in Hong Kong under two different laws and apply to different forms of creative and commercial assets.
Copyright protects original works of authorship, whether literature, music, films, or artistic works. It therefore is automatically granted upon the creation of a work without depending on any formal registration. Copyright grants to its creator exclusive rights of reproduction, distribution, and display of a work with protection that extends for the lifetime of the creator plus 50 years. This type of protection was meant to provide an incentive to creators by way of ensuring that they retain control over the use of their works.
Trademarks, on the other hand, are those protecting brand identifiers in the form of logos, names, symbols, and slogans of goods and services. Unlike copyright protection, Hong Kong does require formal trademark protection registration, which is referred to as Hong Kong Trademark Registration. This affords any business with exclusive rights to their distinctive signs that can prevent others from using any similar marks that create confusion among consumers. This is renewable every 10 years and will provide long-term protection so long as they are regularly renewed.
They differ mainly in their scope and purposes. Copyright is concerned with original expressions in a tangible medium, while trademarks concern distinguishing a brand’s goods or services in the market. Hong Kong Trademark Registration provides a business operating in Hong Kong with an effective tool for sustaining brand awareness and earning consumer confidence in the marketplace by protecting brand identity against unlawful exploitation.
In other words, both copyright and trademark are forms of protection of intellectual property, but they serve different purposes. Every business operating in Hong Kong should know the difference between trademark law and copyright law for the full protection of their intellectual assets via Hong Kong Trademark Registration and copyright law.