The Hague Agreement Concerning the International Deposit of Industrial Designs of November 6, 1925

The Hague Act of November 28, 1960

 

Article 1
 

(1)

 The contracting States constitute a Special Union for the international deposit of industrial designs.

(2)

 Only States members of the International Union for the Protection of Industrial Property may become party to this Agreement.
 

Article 2
 

For the purposes of this Agreement:

"1925 Agreement" shall mean the Hague Agreement concerning the International Deposit of Industrial Designs of November 6, 1925;

"1934 Agreement" shall mean the Hague Agreement concerning the International Deposit of Industrial Designs of November 6, 1925, as revised at London on June 2, 1934;

"this Agreement" or "the present Agreement" shall mean the Hague Agreement concerning the International Deposit of Industrial Designs as established by the present Act;

"Regulations" shall mean the Regulations for carrying out this Agreement;

"International Bureau" shall mean the Bureau of the International Union for the Protection of Industrial Property;

"international deposit" shall mean a deposit made at the International Bureau;

"national deposit" shall mean a deposit made at the national Office of a contracting State;

"multiple deposit" shall mean a deposit including several designs;

"State of origin of an international deposit" shall mean the contracting State in which the applicant has a real and effective industrial or commercial establishment or, if the applicant has such establishments in several contracting States, the contracting State which he has indicated in his application; if the applicant has no such establishment in any contracting State, the contracting State in which he has his domicile; if he has no domicile in a contracting State, the contracting State of which he is a national;

"State having a novelty examination" shall mean a contracting State the domestic law of which provides for a system which involves a preliminary ex officio search and examination by its national Office as to the novelty of each deposited design.
 

Article 3
 

Nationals of contracting States and persons who, without being nationals of any contracting State, are domiciled or have a real and effective industrial or commercial establishment in the territory of a contracting State may deposit designs at the International Bureau.
 

Article 4
 

(1)

 International deposit may be made at the International Bureau:
 

1.

 direct, or
 

2.

 through the intermediary of the national Office of a contracting State if the law of that State so permits.

(2)

 The domestic law of any contracting State may require that international deposits of which it is deemed to be the State of origin shall be made through its national Office. Non-compliance with this requirement shall not prejudice the effects of the international deposit in the other contracting States.
 

Article 5
 

(1)

 The international deposit shall consist of an application and one or more photographs or other graphic representations of the design, and shall involve payment of the fees prescribed by the Regulations.

(2)

 The application shall contain:
 

1.

 a list of the contracting States in which the applicant requests that the international deposit shall have effect;
 

2.

 the designation of the article or articles in which it is intended to incorporate the design;
 

3.

 if the applicant wishes to claim the priority provided for in Article 9, an indication of the date, the State, and the number of the deposit giving rise to the right of priority;
 

4.

 such other particulars as the Regulations may prescribe.
(3)

(a)

 In addition, the application may contain:
 

1.

 a short description of characteristic features of the design;
 

2.

 a declaration as to who is the true creator of the design;
 

3.

 a request for deferment of publication as provided in Article 6(4).
 

(b)

 The application may be accompanied also by samples or models of the article or articles incorporating the design.

(4)

 A multiple deposit may include several designs intended to be incorporated in articles included in the same class of the International Design Classification referred to in Article 21(2)4.
 

Article 6
 

(1)

 The International Bureau shall maintain the International Design Register and shall register international deposits therein.

(2)

 The international deposit shall be deemed to have been made on the date on which the International Bureau received the application in due form, the fees payable with the application, and the photograph or photographs or other graphic representations of the design, or, if the International Bureau received them on different dates, on the last of these dates. The registration shall bear the same date.
(3)

(a)

 For each international deposit, the International Bureau shall publish in a periodical bulletin:
 

1.

 reproductions in black and white or, at the request of the applicant, in color of the deposited photographs or other graphic representations;
 

2.

 the date of the international deposit;
 

3.

 the particulars prescribed by the Regulations.
 

(b)

 The International Bureau shall send the periodical bulletin to the national Offices as soon as possible.
 
(4)

(a)

 The publication referred to in paragraph (3)(a) shall, at the request of the applicant, be deferred for such period as he may request. The said period may not exceed twelve months from the date of the international deposit. However, if priority is claimed, the starting date of such period shall be the priority date.
 

(b)

 At any time during the period referred to in subparagraph (a), the applicant may request immediate publication or may withdraw his deposit. Withdrawal of the deposit may be limited to one or a few only of the contracting States and, in the case of a multiple deposit, to some only of the designs included therein.
 

(c)

 If the applicant fails to pay within the proper time the fees payable before the expiration of the period referred to in subparagraph (a), the International Bureau shall cancel the deposit and shall not effect the publication referred to in paragraph (3)(a).
 

(d)

 Until the expiration of the period referred to in subparagraph (a), the International Bureau shall keep in confidence the registration of deposits made subject to deferred publication, and the public shall have no access to any documents or articles concerning such deposits. These provisions shall apply without limitation as to time if the applicant has withdrawn his deposit before the expiration of the said period.

(5)

 Except as provided in paragraph (4), the Register and all documents and articles filed with the International Bureau shall be open to inspection by the public.
 

Article 7
 
 
(1)

(a)

 A deposit registered at the International Bureau shall have the same effect in each of the contracting States designated by the applicant in his application as if all the formalities required by the domestic law for the grant of protection had been complied with by the applicant and as if all administrative acts required to that end had been accomplished by the Office of such State.
 

(b)

 Subject to the provisions of Article 11, the protection of designs the deposit of which has been registered at the International Bureau is governed in each contracting State by those provisions of the domestic law which are applicable in that State to designs for which protection has been claimed on the basis of a national deposit and in respect of which all formalities and administrative acts have been complied with and accomplished.

(2)

 An international deposit shall have no effect in the State of origin if the laws of that State so provide.
 

Article 8
 

(1)

 Notwithstanding the provisions of Article 7, the national Office of a contracting State whose domestic law provides that the national Office may, on the basis of an administrative ex officio examination or pursuant to an opposition by a third party, refuse protection shall, in case of refusal, notify the International Bureau within six months that the design does not meet the requirements of its domestic law other than the formalities and administrative acts referred to in Article 7(1). If no such refusal is notified within a period of six months the international deposit shall become effective in that State as from the date of that deposit. However, in a contracting State having a novelty examination, the international deposit, while retaining its priority, shall, if no refusal is notified within a period of six months, become effective from the expiration of the said period unless the domestic law provides for an earlier date for deposits made with its national Office.

(2)

 The period of six months referred to in paragraph (1) shall be computed from the date on which the national Office receives the issue of the periodical bulletin in which the registration of the international deposit has been published. The national Office shall communicate that date to any person so requesting.

(3)

 The applicant shall have the same remedies against the refusal of the national Office referred to in paragraph (1) as if he had deposited his design in that Office; in any case, the refusal shall be subject to a request for re-examination or appeal. Notification of such refusal shall indicate:
 

1.

 the reasons for which it has been found that the design does not meet the requirements of the domestic law;
 

2.

 the date referred to in paragraph (2);
 

3.

 the time allowed for a request for re-examination or appeal;
 

4.

 the authority to which such request or appeal may be addressed.
 
(4)

(a)

 The national Office of a contracting State whose domestic law contains provisions of the kind referred to in paragraph (1) requiring a declaration as to who is the true creator of the design or a description of the design may provide that, upon request and within a period of not less than sixty days from the dispatch of such a request by the said Office, the applicant shall file in the language of the application filed with the International Bureau:
 

1.

 a declaration as to who is the true creator of the design;
 

2.

 a short description emphasizing the essential characteristic features of the design as shown by the photographs or other graphic representations.
 

(b)

 No fees shall be charged by a national Office in connection with the filing of such declarations or descriptions, or for their possible publication by that national Office.
 
(5)

(a)

 Any contracting State whose domestic law contains provisions of the kind referred to in paragraph (1) shall notify the International Bureau accordingly.
 

(b)

 If, under its legislation, a contracting State has several systems for the protection of designs one of which provides for novelty examination, the provisions of this Agreement concerning States having a novelty examination shall apply only to the said system.
 
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