Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property

Template:Use dmy dates The Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, signed in Paris, France, on 20 March 1883, was one of the first intellectual property 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>Template:Cite web</ref>

Contents

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>Template:Cite web</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 designs and trademarks) or 12 months (for patents and utility models) 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>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>Article 11(2) of the Paris Convention</ref><ref name="Bodenhausen-p150">Template:Cite book</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: Template:Cquote

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>Template:Cite web</ref>

The Treaty was revised at Brussels, Belgium, on 14 December 1900, at 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

File:Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property.png

Paris Convention members (in green)

As of February 2017, the Convention has 177 contracting member countries,<ref>Template:Cite web</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.Template:Cn

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, WIPO-Administered Treaties. Consulted on 10 August 2007.</ref> based in Geneva, Switzerland.<ref>WIPO web site, 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)
• US provisional patent application
• Substantive Patent Law Treaty (SPLT)
• World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)

Further reading

• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book

External links

• Paris Convention at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
• Haberman v Comptroller, a UK court decision that helps to understand the concept of priority.
• Priority under the European Patent Convention Explanation of the priority rules as they apply at the European Patent Office.