Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property

The Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, signed in Paris, France, on March 20, 1883, was one of the first intellectual property treaties. It established a Union for the protection of industrial property. The Convention is still in force as of 2011.

Contents

National treatment

According to articles 2 and 3^[1] 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^[2] of this treaty. 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 files another application within 6 months (for industrial designs and trademarks) or 12 months (for patents and utility models) from the first filing.

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.

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

Contracting parties

The Convention now has 173 contracting member countries,^[3] which makes it one of the most widely adopted treaties worldwide. Notably, Taiwan and Kuwait are not parties to the Convention. However, according to Article 27 of its Patent Act, Taiwan recognizes priority claims from contracting members. The Paris Convention entered into force in Thailand on August 2, 2008, bringing the total number of Nation States party to the Convention to 173.^[4]

Contracting members include: Albania; Algeria; Andorra; Angola; Antigua and Barbuda; Argentina; Armenia; Australia; Austria; Azerbaijan; Bahamas; Bahrain; Bangladesh; Barbados; Belarus; Belgium; Belize; Benin; Bhutan; Bolivia; Bosnia and Herzegovina; Botswana; Brazil; Bulgaria; Burkina Faso; Burundi; Cambodia; Cameroon; Canada; Central African Republic; Chad; Chile; China; Colombia; Comoros; Congo; Costa Rica; Croatia; Cuba; Cyprus; Czech Republic; Côte d'Ivoire; Democratic People's Republic of Korea; Democratic Republic of the Congo; Denmark; Djibouti; Dominica; Dominican Republic; Ecuador; Egypt; El Salvador; Equatorial Guinea; Estonia; Finland; France; Gabon; Gambia; Georgia; Germany; Ghana; Greece; Grenada; Guatemala; Guinea; Guinea-Bissau; Guyana; Haiti; Holy See; Honduras; Hungary; Iceland; India; Indonesia; Iran (Islamic Republic of); Iraq; Ireland; Israel; Italy; Jamaica; Japan; Jordan; Kazakhstan; Kenya; Kyrgyzstan; Laos; Latvia; Lebanon; Lesotho; Liberia; Libya; Liechtenstein; Lithuania; Luxembourg; Macedonia;^[5] Madagascar; Malawi; Malaysia; Mali; Malta; Mauritania; Mauritius; Mexico; Moldova; Monaco; Mongolia; Morocco; Mozambique; Namibia; Nepal; Netherlands; New Zealand; Nicaragua; Niger; Nigeria; Norway; Oman; Pakistan; Panama; Papua New Guinea; Paraguay; Peru; Philippines; Poland; Portugal; Qatar; Republic of Korea; Romania; Russian Federation; Rwanda; Saint Kitts and Nevis; Saint Lucia; Saint Vincent and the Grenadines; San Marino; Sao Tome and Principe; Saudi Arabia; Senegal; Serbia; Seychelles; Sierra Leone; Singapore; Slovakia; Slovenia; South Africa; Spain; Sri Lanka; Sudan; Suriname; Swaziland; Sweden; Switzerland; Syrian Arab Republic; Tajikistan; Thailand; Togo; Tonga; Trinidad and Tobago; Tunisia; Turkey; Turkmenistan; Uganda; Ukraine; United Arab Emirates; United Kingdom; United Republic of Tanzania; United States of America; Uruguay; Uzbekistan; Venezuela; Vietnam; Yemen; Zambia; and Zimbabwe.

Former member state: Orange Free State 1899 – 31 May 1902^{[citation needed]}

Administration

The Paris Convention is administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO),^[6] based in Geneva, Switzerland.^[7]

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)
• Intellectual property
• Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT)
• Patent Law Treaty (PLT)
• Priority right
• US provisional patent application
• Substantive Patent Law Treaty (SPLT)
• World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO)

References

1. ^ The text of the Paris Convention is available on the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) web site.
2. ^ The text of the Paris Convention is available on the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) web site.
3. ^ World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) web site, Contracting Parties > Paris Convention (Total Contracting Parties : 173). Consulted on June 20, 2010.
4. ^ Paris Convention. Accession by Thailand, PCT Newsletter, May 2008, No. 05/2008, page 3.
5. ^ Signed as "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia"
6. ^ WIPO web site, WIPO-Administered Treaties. Consulted on August 10, 2007.
7. ^ WIPO web site, What is WIPO?. Consulted on August 10, 2007.

Further reading

• Guide to the Application of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property As Revised at Stockholm in 1967, G.H.C. Bodenhausen, (World Intellectual Property; February 1, 1968) ISBN 92-805-0368-5
• Die Unionspriorität im Patentrecht, Grundfragen des Artikels 4 der Pariser Verbandsübereinkunft, Dr. Reinhard Wieczorek, 1975, Köln, C. Heymanns, ISBN 3-452-17822-6

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.