Happy New Year, Perhaps a reflection of this on Internet policy may be beneficial?(Especially, where very many marks are registered solely or largely with the intention of locking out others, or cashing in on the marks later...) As expressed at the Seoul meeting, one may be excused for being concerned that poorly-connected developing regions with weak, immature, or non-existent IP/trademarks/copyright regimes may be shocked to realise that marks and/or names exist no more when they finally get connected? - - snip - - Honest concurrent use is one of the uncommon grounds a trademark applicant in Hong Kong can rely on to overcome an objection to a trademark registration that conflicts with, or would take unfair advantage of, or would be detrimental to, an earlier mark. An example of "honest concurrent use" is when the owner of a mark has obtained registration but has never used or has very limited use of it. However, during the term of the registration, another person or company has honestly and concurrently used an identical mark in similar goods or products. May the person or company then rely on the ground of "honest concurrent use" to support its trademark application to the Registry if the application is rejected due to its potential conflict with the registered mark? [....] - - snap - - http://www.mondaq.com/article.asp?articleid=119156