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India Decides to Accede to the Paris Conventionand the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT)

Geneva, August 27, 1998
Press Updates UPD/1998/31

The Government of India has decided to accede simultaneously to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property and the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT).

Both treaties will become binding on India three months after the two instruments of accession have been received at WIPO. They are expected to be handed over very soon by the Indian Government's representative in Geneva.

The Director General of WIPO, Dr. Kamil Idris, warmly welcomes the decision of the Indian Government to adhere to the two treaties. Such a step will benefit the country's technological and economic development and enhance the international intellectual property cooperation which WIPO promotes so actively. He looks forward to receiving very soon the two instruments of accession.

Dr. Idris' welcome is echoed by the international intellectual property community, particularly trade and industrial circles, and the other countries which are already bound by those treaties.

The Paris Convention is one of the two basic intellectual property treaties administered by WIPO, the other being the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works of which India has been a member for a very long time. The Paris Convention lays down basic principles primarily governing the protection of patents, trademarks and industrial designs.

India will become the 151st country to be bound by the Paris Convention. All the main trading nations of the world are party to this Convention.

The PCT provides for the filing of a single international application in one language, having effect in each of the countries party to the PCT which the applicant names in his application for patent protection. All PCT international applications are processed by the WIPO Secretariat in Geneva. The great advantage offered by the PCT is that it simplifies procedures and reduces costs for owners of new inventions who apply for patent protection in multiple countries. India will become the 98th country to be bound by the PCT.

It will be possible to designate India in international applications only as from the date of entry into force of the PCT in respect of India. That date will be announced in a future WIPO Update.

For more information, please contact Mr. Narendra Sabharwal, Director, Cooperation for Development Bureau for Asia and the Pacific:

Tel: (+41 22) 338 90 28
Fax: (+41 22) 733 63 73
E-mail: narendra.sabharwal@wipo.int