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International Design Patent Filing Considerations After U.S. Entry into the Hague Agreement

By Trevor K. Copeland and Daniel A. Parrish

Effective May 13, 2015, applicants can file international design patent applications in a single, standardized application via the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) designating any of more than 62 territories, including the U.S. and European Union (EU), and can receive the same effective filing date in each jurisdiction. This important opportunity comes as the U.S. accedes to the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement, details of which are set forth in the USPTO's recently published Final Rule implementing changes to the agency's relevant design patent Regulations. See, Changes to Implement the Hague Agreement Concerning International Registration of Industrial Designs, Final Rule, 80 Fed. Reg. 17,918.

The Hague Agreement is directed to uniform filing and registration procedures, not substantive law. The U.S. is a relative latecomer to the Agreement, which was first enacted in 1925 and has been amended several times since. Several countries, including the U.S., did not ascribe to early versions of the Agreement because it did not adequately provide for the substantive examination by national offices of all design applications.

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