IP Factsheet: Macao
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FACTSHEET 1. THE FACTS: Business in Macao for EU Companies • Size of Market • Key INDUSTRY SECTORS 2. IPR in Macao for SMEs: BACKGROUND • Intellectual Property Rights for SMEs: Why is this RELEVANT to you? • How does Macao’s IP legal framework compare to INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS? 3. IP Rights in Macao: THE BASICS A. Copyright B. Patents C. Trade Marks D. Designs E. Trade Secrets 4. Using CUSTOMS to block counterfeits 5. Enforcing your IP • Civil Litigation • Criminal Prosecution 6. RELATED LINKS and Additional Information IP Factsheet: Macao For free, confidential, business-focused IP An initiative advice within three working days E-mail: of the [email protected] 2 IP Factsheet: Macao THE FACTS: Business in Macao for EU Companies 1. (Source: European Union Office to Hong Kong and Macao) 963 111 852 SIZE of Market : EU exports to Macao: EUR 852 million EU imports from Macao: EUR 111 million Total trade in goods: EUR 963 billion • Macao is the EU’s 130th largest goods trading partner. • The EU is Macao’s 4th largest trading partner, after Hong Kong, Mainland China and the United States. • The business opportunities in the gambling and tourism industry are central to trade relations between EU and Macao. • Macao is a growing market for European luxury goods. • Procurement in the transportation, energy and construction sectors can potentially offer business opportunities to EU SMEs, since Macao is engaged in an increasing number of infrastructure projects. Key INDUSTRY SECTORS: • EU exports to Macao are dominated by high-end leather goods, clothing, watches and jewellery, food and beverages, and automobiles. • Macao’s key export items to the EU include clothing and textiles, toys, footwear electronics, machinery and components. 3 IP TIPS and WATCH-OUTS in Macao 2. IPR in Macao for SMEs: BACKGROUND ● Macao is a Special Administrative Intellectual Property Rights for SMEs: Why is this RELEVANT to you? Region of the People’s Republic of China. It enjoys a high degree Intellectual Property (IP), as intangible assets, are a key factor in the of autonomy, including its own competitiveness of your business in the global economy. IP is a primary method Court of Final Appeal, and it has a for securing a return on investment in innovation and is particularly relevant separate IP system. to Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), as they internationalise their business to areas such as Macao. Although SMEs often have limited time and ● Registering your patents or trade resources, it is important to be aware of how IP can be valuable to your business. marks in China doesn’t give you Not only a way to help you protect your innovations from competitors, IP assets protection in Macao, and vice-versa. can also be an important source of cash-flow for SMEs through licensing deals or sale of IP rights, as well as a significant pull-factor when attracting investors. ● It is not possible to apply for the registration of a patent or a Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) infringement is one of the most common trade mark in Macao through the concerns for businesses when dealing with countries across Asia, and its impact existing channels for international on your company could be substantial. It can lead to loss of business, revenue, registration – you must file your reputation and competitive advantage, which affects SMEs both abroad and in application locally. their core domestic markets, and the inadequate protection of inventions and creations can jeopardise prospects for maintaining a competitive advantage. ● Nationals of countries that are members to the WTO, to the How does Macao’s IP legal framework compare to INTERNATIONAL Berne Convention or to the Paris STANDARDS? Convention are accorded the same protection as Macao residents. Macao law protects the various forms of Intellectual Property and complies with the standards set in the main international conventions. Macao was a ● The appointment of a local founding member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and, besides the attorney is mandatory for Trade-Related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement, registration applicants that are abides by the following treaties: Berne Convention for Protection of Literary and not based in Macao. Artistic Works, Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) Copyright Treaty, WIPO Performances ● More information on Intellectual and Phonograms Treaty, Universal Copyright Convention and Nice Agreement Property in Macao, as well on the International Classification of Products and Services. as downloadable forms, are available in English, Portuguese As a Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China, and Chinese at the Intellectual Macao has a high degree of autonomy and will retain its own legal Property Department of Macao system until 2047. Economic Bureau website: https:// www.economia.gov.mo/en_US/ web/public/pg_ip?_refresh=true SMEs are businesses which have fewer than 250 employees and turnover of less than EUR 50 million or balance sheet total of less than EUR 43 million. SMEs represent 99% of all enterprises in the EU, and account for about 70% of jobs. Their flexibility and growth potential is seen as a major motor of future innovation and job creation, which is pivotal for the prosperity and economic competitiveness of Europe as a whole. 4 IP Factsheet: Macao 3. IP Rights in MACAO: THE BASICS A. Copyrights How LONG does legal protection in last? WHAT are Copyrights? As a general rule, copyrights last the lifetime of the creator plus Copyrights are rights that guarantee the owner exclusive uses 50 years. A few main exceptions should be taken into account of literary and artistic works, sound and video recordings, radio however: and TV broadcasts, artistic performances and public spectacles. Nature of work Duration of Copyright Audio-visual works (for example, Literary and artistic works are understood very broadly and movies) as well as copyrights 50 years after publication of potentially include any creative texts (including computer acquired by legal persons on the work software), images (photos, paintings, drawings, etc.), shapes literary or artistic works (for example, sculptures), sounds (especially musical works) and Applied arts works 25 years after the making of compilations (for example, databases). (for example, designs) the work 50 years after the first Collective works disclosure or publication Use of a literary or artistic work is also a very broad legal concept Artistic performances 25 years after the performance that includes not only copying but also any form of public (for example, a piano recital) is recorded in audio or video exploitation of the work (translating, broadcasting, leasing to 50 years after the publication of the public, exhibiting, etc.). Industrial designs and designer works Sound and video recordings the recording or, in case there can also be protected by copyright. is no publication, 50 years after the recording is made Radio and TV broadcasts 20 years after the broadcast Copyrights in Macao: What you need to know All the above expiry terms are calculated from the 1st of January Copyrights in Macao are granted automatically by law to the of the year that follows the relevant event. creators of literary and artistic works, performers, broadcasters, producers of sound or video recordings and producers of HOW do I register? spectacles, irrespective of any formality. There is no registration. Literary and artistic works are In case original work is created under an employment contract or in automatically protected by law once they are created and the course of fulfilling the official duties, the ownership of economic expressed in any form (for example, publication of a text, rights must be decided according to the agreement in advance. exhibition of an image, broadcast of a movie, live performance In principle, fixation of the literary or artistic work in a material of a song, etc). Radio and TV broadcasts are protected once form (paper, canvas, stone, film, etc.) is not required, however, they start. Sound and video recordings are protected once the for copyright to subsist and be protected by the relevant laws, recording is made. Artistic performances are protected once the the original work shall be reduced into a material and tangible performance happens or is recorded. form of expression. 5 Copyrights TIPS and B. Patents WATCH-OUTS in Macao WHAT are Patents? Macao follows the continental European legal tradition of Droit d’Auteur (author’s Patents are an exclusive right granted by a government to an inventor right), which stresses the protection of to manufacture, use, or sell an invention for a certain number of years, intellectual creators. therefore patents are temporary monopolies granted to inventors for the economic exploitation (producing, selling, importing, etc.) of technological The holders of copyrights on literary innovations. Macao grants two different categories of patents: inventions and artistic works are, in principle, the and utility models. respective authors (for example, the intellectual creators). However legal Patents in Macao: What you need to know persons (for example, companies) are deemed to be the authors of the a) Invention Patents works created under their direction and An invention is a technical solution to a problem. As a general principle an made public under their name.It is not invention patent can be granted in Macao for a product or for a process of possible to apply for the registration doing things in any field of technology (chemistry, electronics, mechanics, of a patent or a trade mark in Macao etc.). Exceptionally, the law excludes some technological innovations from through the existing channels for patentability: for example, scientific theories, mathematical formulas, rules international registration – you must of games, surgical and therapeutic methods, human cloning processes, file your application locally. plant varieties and animal breeds cannot be patented. A computer programme cannot itself be patented, though this does not exclude the Literary and artistic works made patentability of other inventions that make use of the software.