Protecting Inventions for Industrial Designs Under the Hague Agreement (On-Demand)

Course Description

The Hague Agreement offers the possibility of obtaining easy and robust protection for industrial designs in countries across the world. Only a single international application needs to be filed with the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva, Switzerland. The application can be filed as a standalone application or can relate to and claim priority from U.S. design patent applications. Under the Hague System, one international application replaces a whole series of applications which would otherwise have to be filed with different national offices.

The Hague System is notably much different than other means for international IP protection and treaties establishing IP rights, such as the Patent Cooperation Treaty (utility patents) and the Madrid Protocol (trademarks). A practitioner’s knowledge of these differences is vital to effective representation of corporations with substantial and/or varied IP.

Syllabus

1. Filing Individual Foreign Applications through the Paris Convention
2. Filing an Application Under the Hague Agreement
   • What the Hague System Is
   • Who the Hague System Is Eligible to be Used By
   • Where Protection Can be Obtained
   • What the Benefits of Using the Hague System Are
   • How Much It Costs to Use the Hague System
3. How Applications Are Examined Under the Hague System