International Registered Designs Flashcards
When did China join the Hague Agreement?
May 2022.
Who is entitled to file a Hague application?
Any person that is a national of a state that is a contracting party or of a state member of an intergovernmental organization (i.e., the EU) that is a contracting party, or that has a domicile, a habitual residence or a real and effective industrial or commercial establishment in the territory of a contracting party, shall be entitled to file an international application.
Where are Hague applications filed?
Directly at the IB.
Some contracting states allow you to file through their national office as a receiving office, but this is not done in practice.
What fees are due and when?
A basic fee, publication fee, and a designation fee for each designated state. All are due on filing.
Are multiple applications allowed?
Yes, up to 100 designs are allowed in a single application. However, all must belong to the same Locarno class.
What are the minimum filing requirements?
- A request for international registration under the Hague agreement.
- Data concerning the applicant.
- The prescribed number of copies of at least one reproduction of the design (or a specimin of a 2D design if deferred publication is requested).
- An indication of the products which constitute the design or in relation to which the design is to be used.
- An indication of the designated contracting parties.
- The prescribed fees.
The application must also be in English, French or Spanish.
When are international designs registered?
Once the IB examines for formalities. The registration date is retrospectively the filing date. However, this is not the date from which protection is granted in designated contracting parties.
When is publication?
Up to the applicant. It can be immediately upon registration or it can be up to 30 months after the filing date, but this is capped at the shortest deferment allowed by any of the designated contracting party. For example, the UK only allows deferment by 12 months, and so if the UK is a disgnated contracting party then the maximum defered publication is 12 months.
How can national offices examine a Hague application?
Each office can examine the application within 6 months of publication and refuse it within that time (wholly or partially in respect of only some of the designs in the application). The applicant can then contest that refusal with that office under the relevant national laws.
If the office allows the application or does not issue a refusal within 6 months, then the application grants and the term of the registered design starts from the date of grant/end of the 6 months. Protection lasts for as long as the national laws allow it to.
