The Arbitration (Amendment) Ordinance 2017 (“Amendment Ordinance”) amends the Arbitration Ordinance (Cap. 609) to, among other things, clarify that all disputes over intellectual property rights (“IPRs”) may be resolved by arbitration and that it is not contrary to the public policy of Hong Kong to enforce arbitral awards involving IPRs. The Amendment Ordinance was published in the Hong Kong SAR Government Gazette on 23 June 2017 and can be accessed here.

The new provisions on IP arbitration are set out in new Part 11A. These provisions come into effect on 1 January 2018 (“Effective Date”) (except for section 103J which comes into operation upon commencement of section 123 of the Patents (Amendment) Ordinance 2016 on 19 December 2019) and apply to arbitral proceedings commencing on/after the Effective Date. Parties may agree that Part 11A shall apply to arbitral proceedings which commenced before the Effective Date and their related proceedings.

Here are some FAQs on the conduct of IP arbitration under the Arbitration Ordinance (as amended).