Industrial Designs Gateway

News

• Electronic Payment Interface
  
• Amendment to the Common Regulations and the Schedule of Fees
  
• Ratification by the Republic of Hungary
  
• Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs Proposed Corrections of the Original of the Geneva Act (English, Arabic, Chinese, French, Spanish and Russian Versions) and of the Certified True Copies
  
• Accession by the Russian Federation
  
• Accession by the Russian Federation
  
• Accession by Georgia
  
• Accession by Bosnia and Herzegovina
  
• Accession by Bosnia and Herzegovina (Protocol)
  
• Accession by Bosnia and Herzegovina
  
• Ratification by the Swiss Confederation of the 1991 Act
  
• WIPO to Mark 50th Anniversary of International Geographical Indications Registration System
  The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) of Portugal will mark the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Lisbon Agreement for the Protection of Appellations of Origin and their International Registration at a Forum on Geographical Indications and Appellations of Origin to be held in Lisbon on October 30 and 31, 2008.
• IGC Consultations to Continue on Future Work Program
  The Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Mr. Francis Gurry, and the Chairman of the Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC), Ambassador Rigoberto Gauto Vielman of Paraguay, said they would pursue efforts in the coming weeks to bridge differences among member states on the way to move international negotiations forward. The IGC wrapped up its 13th meeting late in the evening of October 17, 2008 after attempts to hammer out compromise texts on the future work program faltered. Despite intense negotiations, delegations were not able to agree on the working procedures required to deliver the concrete outcomes that many have called for from this Committee. The IGC’s mandate calls upon it to accelerate its work, and expectations remain strong that the Committee should produce a significant outcome by the time it is required to report back to the WIPO General Assembly in September 2009.
• WIPO Director General Calls for Concrete Outcomes to Benefit Indigenous and Local Communities
  The Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Mr. Francis Gurry, called upon WIPO’s member states to intensify efforts to develop concrete international outcomes on traditional knowledge, traditional cultural expressions and genetic resources. This call opened the 13th session of the Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC), WIPO’s principal policy forum working on these issues, on October 13, 2008. Newly elected IGC Chairman, H.E. Ambassador Rigoberto Gauto Vielman of Paraguay, echoed the Director General’s call for the Committee to accelerate and focus its work with a view to delivering conclusive results.
• WIPO Expands its Distance Learning Program
  The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has added five new multilingual courses to the distance learning program offered by its Worldwide Academy. The new courses will cover Arbitration and Mediation Procedure, Patents, Patent Information Search, Basics of Patent Drafting, and Trademarks.
• WIPO and ARIPO Sign MOU to Expand Cooperation
  The Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Mr. Francis Gurry, and his counterpart from the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO), Mr. Gift H. Sibanda, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on October 2, 2008 in Geneva, to strengthen and expand cooperation between the two organizations. The MOU covers traditional areas of cooperation relating to capacity building, as well as a special project to boost ARIPO’s patent information capacity.
• USA Ratifies the Singapore Treaty
  The Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Mr. Francis Gurry, welcomed the ratification by the United States of America (USA) on October 1, 2008 of the Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks, an international treaty on trademarks that streamlines and modernizes certain trademark office procedures.
• WIPO Assemblies Conclude
  Topped by the appointment of Mr. Francis Gurry as the next Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the WIPO Assemblies concluded a day ahead of schedule, on Tuesday, September 29, 2008, following a review of activities over the past year and discussions on the Organization’s future work program. The WIPO Assemblies bring together the 184 member states of the Organization.
• Designers from all OAPI Countries to Benefit from Fee Reductions
  Designers from the sixteen member states of the African Intellectual Property Organization (known by its French acronym OAPI - Organisation africaine de la propriété intellectuelle) will, from January 1, 2009, benefit from a 90% reduction in fees prescribed under the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs, an international treaty administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) that helps designers acquire protection for their designs in multiple countries. This decision was taken by WIPO member states who are meeting in Geneva from September 22 to 30, 2008 on the occasion of their annual Assemblies.
• China Extends Application of “Internet Treaties” to Hong Kong SAR
  As of October 1, 2008, the terms of two key international copyright treaties will extend to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR). The Government of the People’s Republic of China has notified the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) that it has extended application of the WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT) and the WIPO Phonograms and Performances Treaty (WPPT) – known as the “Internet Treaties” - to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. These treaties which entered into force in 2002 bring the international system of copyright and related rights more in line with the challenges of the digital age.