Over A Hundred International Applications for Industrial Designs Filed on the First Day of Hague Agreement Taking Effect in China
Over A Hundred International Applications for Industrial Designs Filed on the First Day of Hague Agreement Taking Effect in China
On May 5th Beijing Time, when Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs (Hague Agreement) came into effect, 49 Chinese enterprises filed 108 international applications for industrial designs. By 5:30 p.m. Geneva time, there had been 50 international applications for industrial designs filed directly by Chinese applicants.
Among the filings received by the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA), filings from Lenovo Beijing Co. Ltd., Shier Medical Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., and Beijing Xiaomi Mobile Software Co., Ltd. account for the largest part. According to WIPO’s statistics, Shenzhen Smoore Technology, Dreame Innovation Technology, and Shenzhen TCL Digital Technology take the lead in the amount of filing international applications for industrial designs directly to WIPO among Chinese applicants.
In recent years, the CNIPA has been constantly focusing on the development of the Hague System and proactively promoting the progress of Chinese entry to the Hague Agreement, aiming at providing better services for domestic innovative subjects to “Go Global”. To achieve this, the CNIPA has actively arranged the services concerning examination criterions, the processes of filing and examination, notification and system requirements, and has held consultations with WIPO regarding the issue of Chinese entry to Hague Agreement, in terms with the principles of “following Hague’s rules, simplifying users’ operation, reducing business adjustment, and docking international processes”. By doing this, we were able to offer solid foundation and support for the filing and examination of international applications for industrial designs.
The Hague System provided innovative subjects with a simple and effective procedure for international registration for industrial designs, in which applicants can request protection for industrial designs in several contracting parties only by using one language, filing one international application, using one type of currency and paying one set of fee. It remarkably reduced the registration cost of industrial designs in the enterprises’ journey of globalize products, and improved the efficiency of registration. If applicants require for the variation and renewal of right in the future, they will only need to submit one filing then this filing may come into effect in all the designated contracting countries or territories, which will facilitate innovative subjects’ centralized management to the right of industrial design.
There are two ways to file international applications for industrial designs through Hague system. The first way is that the applicants can directly file international applications to WIPO; while the second one is that applicants can file international applications through the office of contracting parties with their approval. Under the Hague system, international registrations for industrial designs are valid in the first 5 years and can be renewed twice for a period of 5 years. In every designated contracting party bound by 1999 version of Hague Agreement, the protection period of international registration should be 15 years in the minimum.
