WASHIGNTON, DC - US President George W. Bush asked the Senate to approve Industrial Design Treaty, according to a press release by the Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO) stated.
The Hague Agreement on Industrial Design Protection was sent to the US Senate with a request for approval. The treaty was negotiated in 1999 and the Senate referred the matter to the Foreign Relations Committee.
The President’s message said the treaty “should make access to international protection of industrial designs more readily available to US businesses.”
Under the treaty, US design owners would be able to file for design registration in other countries with a single standardized application in English at either the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) or the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Similarly, renewal of a design registration in each country could be made by filing a single request along with payment of the appropriate fees at WIPO.