View source for Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property

{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2013}}
The '''Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property''', signed in [[Paris]], [[France]], on 20 March 1883, was one of the first [[intellectual property]] [[treaty|treaties]]. It established a Union for the protection of industrial property. The Convention is currently still in force. The substantive provisions of the Convention fall into three main categories: national treatment, [[priority right]] and common rules.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ip/paris/summary_paris.html |title=Summary of the Paris Convention |publisher=WIPO |accessdate=2014-12-06}}</ref>

== Contents ==
{{refimprove|section|date=March 2017}}
=== National treatment ===
According to Articles 2 and 3 of this treaty, juristic and natural persons who are either national of or domiciled in a state party to the Convention shall, as regards the protection of industrial property, enjoy in all the other countries of the Union, the advantages that their respective laws grant to nationals.

In other words, when an applicant files an application for a patent or a trademark in a foreign country member of the Union, the application receives the same treatment as if it came from a national of this foreign country. Furthermore, if the intellectual property right is granted (e.g. if the applicant becomes owners of a patent or of a registered trademark), the owner benefits from the same protection and the same legal remedy against any infringement as if the owner was a national owner of this right.

=== Priority right ===
The "''Convention priority right''", also called "''Paris Convention priority right''" or "''Union priority right''", was also established by Article 4 of the Paris Convention, and is regarded as one of the cornerstones of the Paris Convention.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.epo.org/law-practice/case-law-appeals/recent/t010015ep1.html|title=Decision T 15/01 (Mystery Swine Disease/SDLO) of 17 June 2004 of Board of Appeal 3.3.01 of the European Patent Office (EPO)|year=2004|at=Reasons for the decision, point 32|quote=The right of priority is generally regarded as one of the cornerstones of the Paris Convention (...)|publisher=European Patent Office|accessdate=30 December 2016}}</ref> It provides that an applicant from one contracting State shall be able to use its first filing date (in one of the contracting State) as the effective filing date in another contracting State, provided that the applicant, or his successor in title, files a subsequent application within 6 months (for [[industrial design]]s and trademarks) or 12 months (for patents and [[utility model]]s) from the first filing.

=== Temporary protection for goods shown at some international exhibitions===
Article 11(1) of the Paris Convention requires that the Countries of the Union "grant temporary protection to patentable inventions, utility models, industrial designs, and trademarks, in respect of goods exhibited at official or officially recognized [[international exhibitions]] held in the territory of any of them".<ref>[http://www.wipo.int/wipolex/en/treaties/text.jsp?file_id=288514#P223_37281 Article 11(1) of the Paris Convention]</ref>

If a patent or trademark registration is applied for during the temporary period of protection, the priority date of the application may be counted "from the date of introduction of the goods into the exhibition" rather than from the date of filing of the application, if the temporary protection referred to in Article 11(1) has been implemented in such a manner in national law.<ref>[http://www.wipo.int/wipolex/en/treaties/text.jsp?file_id=288514#P223_37281 Article 11(2) of the Paris Convention]</ref><ref name="Bodenhausen-p150">{{cite book|last=Bodenhausen|first=G.H.C.|authorlink=Georg Bodenhausen|title=Guide to the Application of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property As Revised at Stockholm in 1967|url=http://www.wipo.int/freepublications/en/intproperty/611/wipo_pub_611.pdf|accessdate=28 December 2016|year=1969|publisher=United International Bureaux for the Protection of Intellectual Property (BIRPI)|page=150|isbn=92-805-0368-5}}</ref> There are, however, other means for the Countries of the Union to implement in their national law the temporary protection provided for in Article 11 of the Paris Convention:
{{cquote|It is also possible, for example, in the case of exhibited patentable inventions, to make provision for temporary protection by other means, namely, by prescribing that, during a certain period, such exhibition will not destroy the [[novelty (patent)|novelty]] of the invention and that the person who exhibits the invention will also be protected against usurpation of his invention by third parties. Still another possibility of protection consists in the recognition of a [[right of prior use]] in favor of the exhibitor as against possible rights acquired by third parties.<ref name="Bodenhausen-p150"/>}}

=== Mutual independence of patents and trademarks in the different Countries of the Union===
According to Articles 4bis and 6 (for patents and trademarks respectively), for foreigners, the application for a patent or the registration of a trademark shall be determined by the member state in accordance with their national law and not by the decision of the country of origin or any other countries. Patent applications and trademark registrations are independent among contracting countries.

== History ==
After a diplomatic conference in Paris in 1880, the Convention was signed in 1883 by 11 countries: Belgium, Brazil, France, Guatemala, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, El Salvador, Serbia, Spain and Switzerland. Guatemala, El Salvador and Serbia denounced and reapplied the convention via accession.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ShowResults.jsp?country_id=ALL&start_year=ANY&end_year=ANY&search_what=C&treaty_id=2 |title=Contracting Parties to the Paris Convention |publisher=WIPO |accessdate=2012-12-30}}</ref>

The Treaty was revised at [[Brussels]], Belgium, on 14 December 1900, at [[Washington, DC|Washington]], United States, on 2 June 1911, at [[The Hague]], Netherlands, on 6 November 1925, at London, United Kingdom, on 2 June 1934, at [[Lisbon]], Portugal, on 31 October 1958, and at [[Stockholm]], Sweden, on 14 July 1967, and was amended on 28 September 1979.

== Contracting parties ==
{{main|List of parties to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property}}
[[Image:Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property.png|thumb|right|400px|Paris Convention members (in green)]]

As of February 2017, the Convention has 177 contracting member countries,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ShowResults.jsp?lang=en&treaty_id=2 |title=Contracting Parties > Paris Convention (Total Contracting Parties : 177) |publisher=[[World Intellectual Property Organization]] (WIPO) |accessdate=28 February 2017}}</ref> which makes it one of the most widely adopted treaties worldwide. Notably, Taiwan and Burma are not parties to the Convention. However, according to Article 27 of its Patent Act, Taiwan recognizes priority claims from contracting members.{{cn|date=February 2017}}

=== Former contracting parties === 
*[[Austria-Hungary]] (succeeded by Austria and Hungary)
*[[Czechoslovakia]]
*[[Orange Free State]] 1899–31 May 1902
*[[Colony of Queensland]] (1891–1900, after federation acceded to by Australia)
*[[Serbia and Montenegro]] (succeeded by Serbia)
*[[Soviet Union]] (succeeded by the Russian Federation)
*[[Yugoslavia]] (succeeded by Serbia and Montenegro and then Serbia).

== Administration ==
The Paris Convention is administered by the [[World Intellectual Property Organization]] (WIPO),<ref>WIPO web site, [http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ ''WIPO-Administered Treaties'']. Consulted on 10 August 2007.</ref> based in [[Geneva]], Switzerland.<ref>WIPO web site, [http://www.wipo.int/about-wipo/en/what_is_wipo.html ''What is WIPO?'']. Consulted on 10 August 2007.</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights]] (TRIPs)
* [[Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works]]
* [[Budapest Treaty]]
* [[Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization]] (WIPO Convention)
* [[Patent Cooperation Treaty]] (PCT)
* [[Patent Law Treaty]] (PLT)
* [[Provisional application|US provisional patent application]]
* [[Substantive Patent Law Treaty]] (SPLT)
* [[World Intellectual Property Organization]] (WIPO)

== References ==
{{reflist|30em}}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite book|last=Bodenhausen|first=G.H.C.|authorlink=Georg Bodenhausen|title=Guide to the Application of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property As Revised at Stockholm in 1967|url=http://www.wipo.int/freepublications/en/intproperty/611/wipo_pub_611.pdf|accessdate=28 December 2016|year=1969|publisher=United International Bureaux for the Protection of Intellectual Property (BIRPI)|isbn=92-805-0368-5}}
* {{cite book|last=Wieczorek|first=Reinhard |title=Die Unionspriorität im Patentrecht, Grundfragen des Artikels 4 der Pariser Verbandsübereinkunft |trans-title=The Unionist Priority in Patent Law, Basic Questions of Article 4 of the Paris Convention |language=German |year=1975|publisher=C. Heymanns|location=Köln|isbn=3-452-17822-6}}

== External links ==
*[http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ip/paris/index.html Paris Convention] at the [[World Intellectual Property Organization]] (WIPO)
*[http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Patents/2003/430.html ''Haberman v Comptroller''], a UK court decision that helps to understand the concept of priority.
*[http://www.iusmentis.com/patents/epc/priority/ Priority under the European Patent Convention] Explanation of the priority rules as they apply at the European Patent Office.

{{Trademark law}}

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