In Hong Kong, company name and trademark registrations are governed by two separate pieces of legislation: the Companies Ordinance, Cap 32 and the Trade Marks Ordinance, Cap 599.
Accordingly, there are two separate and independent registration systems for company names and trademarks in Hong Kong.
It has been a trend for many years in Hong Kong that companies have adopted names which are very similar to some famous trademarks or names. The following are examples of these ‘shadow’ companies in the Companies Register:
- BASF Chemical (China) Limited (Company No.1437601)
- France Dunhill Int’l Limited (Company No.1229181)
- France L’Oreal Cosmetics Int’l Group (HK) Limited (Company No.1292493)
- France Siemens Lighting Share Limited (Company No.1323082)
Germany Baoma (English transliteration of the mark ‘BMW’ in Chinese) Finery Limited (Company No.1300900)
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Registration, shadow companies, trademark
