Spreading the protection blanket in Mexico
The Hague Agreement establishes a system where a single design application gives access to protection in 69 contracting parties covering 81 countries through the international bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
The agreement provides a practical and cost-effective business solution for registering a single international design application rather than multiple applications in different national offices.
Who can apply?
A legal entity or person having a connection with a contracting party can apply for a single design application either through establishment, domicile, nationality, or habitual residence.
Currently, there are two acts of the Hague Agreement in operation: the Geneva Act (1999) and the Hague Act (1960). Filing a single design application through habitual residence is applicable only for those contracting parties under the 1999 act, which is most of the parties.
The legal entity or person can include up to 100 designs in a single international design application provided they are all in same Locarno class (under the Locarno classification for designs). The design application must contain at least a reproduction of the design and the designation of at least one contracting party.
Deferment
After filing a design application, and assuming it complies with all the requirements of a formal examination, the international bureau issues a publication of the corresponding registration in an international designs bulletin; this publication can be deferred for a period of 12 to 30 months from the filing date or, where priority is claimed, from the priority date of the application concerned depending on the act governing the designated party.
It may be suitable to defer a design publication because in some circumstances it is important to keep a design confidential before launch or keep it as ‘secret prior art’. Taking into account that not all the countries are members of the agreement, there may also be a necessity for deferment in order to bring the design applications of non-member countries into line with the member jurisdictions as a possible intellectual property strategy.
