Advantages of registering industrial designs under the Hague system

     In recent years there has been great interest in filing international applications for industrial design according to the Hague system, which is confirmed by statistics - about 25,000 applications were submitted in 2023.

The Hague System is based on the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs, with

consisting of two international treaties: the Hague Act of November 28, 1960 (“1960 Act”) and the Geneva Act of July 2, 1999 (“1999 Act”), which allows the registration of industrial designs in 96 countries at once. The Hague system is administered by the International Bureau of WIPO.

Important advantages of filing an application under the Hague system are significant time and financial savings and payment of fees in a single currency (basic fee, publication fee and standard fee for each country indicated in the application in Swiss francs CHF), as well as filing a single application instead of several national applications in the same language. In this case, the presence of a basic national application and a document of protection is not required as in the case of an international application for trademarks.

The application can be submitted by a citizen of a country party to the Hague Agreement or a member state of an intergovernmental organization that is a party to the Hague Agreement, who has permanent or temporary residence in this country and is the owner of an operating industrial enterprise.

Typically, the application is submitted electronically using the eHague service or on the official application form DM/1, which can be found on the WIPO IB website. The filing date of the international application is the date of its receipt by Rospatent.

In addition to basic information (information about the applicant and information about the author; documents confirming belonging to any contracting country; name of the industrial design, its description and image in the form of photographs, drawings, graphic images; indication of the countries where legal protection is required) the application shall indicate:

- mandatory elements in accordance with the requirements of the WIPO IB;

- additional mandatory elements as required by the countries in respect of which the application is submitted;

- optional elements are included at the request of the applicant (appointment of a representative, request for priority, etc.).

The application is submitted in English, French or Spanish.

An application for an industrial design sent to the WIPO IB first goes through a stage of formal examination to determine whether it meets the requirements for its execution. If the examination is successfully completed, information about it is entered into the International Register, and the applicant receives a certificate of international registration of the application. 12 months from the date of international registration of the application, information is published in the Bulletin of International Industrial Designs, and then it is sent to the national offices of the countries indicated in it, where the substantive examination is carried out.

If the decision is positive, legal protection for the industrial design under the Hague system is granted for a period of five years, renewable for one additional period (minimum period of 10 years for countries that have ratified the 1960 Act) or for two additional periods of five years each (minimum period of 15 years for countries that have ratified the 1999 Act). The maximum period of protection in each country is provided for by national legislation.