On 1 July 2017, the National Development and Reform Commission of China, the People's Government of Guangdong Province, the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the Government of the Macao Special Administrative Region signed the Framework Agreement on Deepening Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Cooperation in the Development of the Greater Bay Area ("the Agreement"). And immediately after the signing of the Agreement, the development of the Greater Bay Area ("GBA") was officially launched.

The Patents (Amendment) Ordinance 2016 is scheduled to be in force on 19 December 2019. This article is concerned with the new patent system to be launched under the  Ordinance in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong has a unique patent system due to its historic background. The Patents Ordinance (Cap. 514) along with other related rules (Caps. 514A – 514C) forming the main part of the city's patent laws, are basically derived from the UK common law system. After the transfer of sovereignty to China, Hong Kong has adopted some adjustments into its law system accordingly. In view of the economic and technological development plan of the city, amendment to the patent laws and the reform of the patent system is still in progress in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong is an arbitration-friendly city, while the government of the city keeps boosting its intellectual property system, paving the way to become an IP trading hub in Asia. In that context, the Arbitration (Amendment) Ordinance has come into effect on 1 January 2018, after it was passed by the Legislative Council on 14 June 2017. The Amendment clarifies that all disputes relating to Intellectual property rights (IPRs) can be arbitrated, whether or not the IPRs are registered, or subsist in Hong Kong.

A provisional patent application is a special type of application for patent available in the US, Australia, India and some European countries such as the UK. A provisional application can be a useful tool for applicants to manipulate certain patenting strategies for their inventions, provided that it has been used in an appropriate way. US provisional patent applications, which have been widely used since its introduction in 1995, will be taken to discuss some basic concepts of a provisional patent application.