China's accession to the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs entered into force in China in May

Beijing, February 10 (China News Network) -- On the evening of the 9th, the State Intellectual Property Office of China released a message through its official online platform that on February 5, China submitted a letter of accession to the Hague Agreement on the International Registration of Industrial Designs (hereinafter referred to as the Hague Agreement) to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), which will enter into force in China on May 5.

Joining the Hague Agreement will not only help China to actively integrate into the design globalization system, promote the improvement of industrial design innovation capabilities, and help Chinese creativity, Chinese design and Chinese manufacturing to go global, but also help promote the development of the global industrial design field and make the world a better place. At the same time, China's deep participation in global IP governance under the framework of the World Intellectual Property Organization will also play a strong role in promoting it.

The Hague Agreement is an international intellectual property agreement applicable to the field of industrial design, which, together with the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks and the Patent Cooperation Treaty, constitute the three major service systems in the field of industrial property, which are administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization. Through this agreement, it is possible for an applicant to obtain industrial design protection in several Contracting Parties after filing a single international application with the receiving Office.

On June 1, 2021, China's newly revised Patent Law came into effect, extending the term of protection of designs from 10 years before the amendment to 15 years, removing legal obstacles to accession to the Hague Agreement and creating conditions for accession to the Agreement. After the revision of the Patent Law was adopted, the State Intellectual Property Office of China immediately launched the domestic approval procedure for accession to the Hague Agreement, and successfully completed the relevant domestic procedures with the strong support of the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other departments. In January this year, with the approval of the State Council, China formally acceded to the 1999 Act of the Hague Agreement.

The State Intellectual Property Office of China said that in the next step, the Office will continue to do a good job in revising the implementation rules of the Patent Law and the Patent Examination Guidelines, improve the design examination rules for applications through the Hague Agreement, do a good job in supporting guarantees such as information systems and fee systems, and provide convenient services for Chinese and foreign applicants to use the Hague Agreement system to carry out international applications and protection of designs.

It is understood that the earliest text of the Hague Agreement was adopted on November 6, 1925, and the latest text is the 1999 act, which came into force on April 1, 2004. In recent years, the number of Parties to the Hague Agreement has been increasing, and the influence of the Hague System has been expanding. As of January 24, 2022, there were 76 Contracting Parties to the Hague Agreement and 67 Contracting Parties to its 1999 Act, including 65 States and 2 intergovernmental organizations. (End)

Source: China News Network