Congratulations to Au Lut Chi and Ian Chu who have been appointed as Chairmen of the Appeal Tribunal Panel, pursuant to section 45 of the Buildings Ordinance (Cap.123) from 1 December 2021 to 30 November 2024.

Read more

A hearing for an opposition to trade mark application was heard before the IP Department on 27 August 2021 and the decision was handed down on 5 November 2021. The opposition concerns a registration of a trade mark “金佛水” under class 35 by an earlier trade mark “大佛水”.

Ian Chu acted for the applicant in the said hearing. In short, the IP Department was of the view that:-

• There is insufficient evidence supporting that the earlier trade mark has been widely used in Hong Kong for a long time and therefore the use of it does not make the earlier trade mark more distinctive;
• The degree of similarity between two marks is only medium; and
• While the wholesale and retailing of medicines, Chinese herbal medicine and nasal spray under the subject class 35 (“Class A Services”) are complementary to the goods covered by earlier trade mark, others including the sale of tonic food, cosmetic and skincare products and nutritious food etc (“Class B Services”) are not similar to the goods covered by the earlier trade mark.

Accordingly, the IP Department rejected the opposition to the registration of the subject trade mark under Class B Services.

For the full Statement of Reasons for Decision by the IP Department, please see https://www.ipd.gov.hk/chi/intellectual_property/trademarks/trademarks_decisions/decision/DEC304805190OP.pdf or contact our Ian Chu.

Read more

Recently, the Hong Kong courts have considered two important issues for lenders relating to jurisdiction clauses in finance documents:

1. Should the Hong Kong courts dismiss a winding up or bankruptcy petition if the relevant finance document is subject to an exclusive jurisdiction clause (EJC) in favour of a foreign court?

2. Will the Hong Kong courts give effect to asymmetric jurisdiction clauses?

Read more

Congratulations to Ian Chu who has been appointed as a panel member of the Insurance Appeals Tribunal, pursuant to section 2 of Schedule 10 to the Insurance Ordinance (Cap. 41) from 26 July 2021 to 25 July 2023.

Read more

Congratulations to Kim Rooney who has recently been appointed for her second three-years term representing the HKSAR (China) as member of the ICC International Court of Arbitration.

Read more

Kim Rooney’s article entitled “The Global Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Commercial Dispute Resolution in the First Year “ has been published in the May 2021 issue of Dispute Resolution International, the IBA’s Journal for its contentious section. The Article is open source. Kim is the editor of Dispute Resolution International.

This is the second in Dispute Resolution International’s series of articles about the issues arising from the pandemic for global dispute resolution and jurisdictions’ evolving responses to the pandemic – the first was published in the October 2020 issue of the journal. It reviews an additional eight jurisdictions, provides updates for 11 jurisdictions reviewed in the October 2020 article and discusses emerging trends. Forty-six arbitration and litigation practitioners from 23 jurisdictions in Africa, the Asia-Pacific, Europe and the United Kingdom, Middle East North Africa and Turkey (MENAT), North America and South America have contributed to these two articles. Click here to read.

Read more

Dr Christopher To in his interview with the Hong Kong Lawyer Magazine discusses his role as chairman of the Hong Kong Institute of Directors as well as other aspects of his career.

Click here to see more.

Read more

Gilt Chambers is pleased to welcome David Lai as a tenant. David holds a BA (Hons) in Economics from the University of British Columbia, an LLM in International Corporate & Commercial Law from King’s College, London and an MSc in Taxation from St Hugh’s College, University of Oxford. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. Before joining the Hong Kong Bar, he was an accountant and university lecturer for many years. He practises in taxation and associated fields. He is also a Member of the Inland Revenue Board of Review and other statutory bodies. We wish him every success in his practice at Gilt Chambers.

Read more