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Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property

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Paris Convention
Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property
Signed20 March 1883 (1883-03-20)
LocationParis, France
Effective7 July 1884 (1883 version)
Parties180
LanguagesFrench
Full text
Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property (1883) at Wikisource

The Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, signed in Paris, France, on 20 March 1883, is 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 2024. The substantive provisions of the Convention fall into three main categories: national treatment, priority right and common rules.[1]

Contents

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National treatment

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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.[2]

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 protections and the same legal remedy against any infringement as if the owner was a national owner of this right.

Priority right

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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 generally regarded as one of the cornerstones of the Paris Convention.[3] It provides that an applicant from one contracting State shall be able to use its first filing date (in one of the contracting States) as the effective filing date in another contracting State, provided that the applicant, or the applicant's 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

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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".[4]

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.[4][5] 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:

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 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.[5]

Mutual independence of patents and trademarks in the different Countries of the Union

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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.[citation needed]

History

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After a diplomatic conference in Paris in 1880, the convention was signed on 20 March 1883 by 11 countries: Belgium, Brazil, France, Guatemala, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, El Salvador, Kingdom of Serbia,[6] Spain and Switzerland. Guatemala, El Salvador and Serbia denounced and reapplied the convention via accession.[7][8][9]

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, on 2 June 1934, at Lisbon, Portugal, on 31 October 1958, and at Stockholm, Sweden, on 14 July 1967. It was amended on 28 September 1979.[10]

Contracting parties

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Main article: List of parties to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property
Paris Convention members in 2022 (in green)

As of 14 December 2024, the convention has 180 contracting member countries.[7]

Administration

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The Paris Convention is administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)[7] based in Geneva, Switzerland.[11]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Summary of the Paris Convention". WIPO. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
  2. ^ Bodenhausen, (1969).
  3. ^ "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)". European Patent Office. 2004. Reasons for the decision, point 32. Retrieved 30 December 2016. The right of priority is generally regarded as one of the cornerstones of the Paris Convention ...
  4. ^ a b "Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property - WIPO Lex". www.wipo.int. 20 March 1883.
  5. ^ a b Bodenhausen, G.H.C. (1969). Guide to the Application of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property As Revised at Stockholm in 1967 (PDF). United International Bureaux for the Protection of Intellectual Property (BIRPI). p. 150. ISBN 92-805-0368-5. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
  6. ^ "TEMA BROJA – Patenti".
  7. ^ a b c "Contracting Parties to the Paris Convention". WIPO. Retrieved 1 May 2024.
  8. ^ "TREATY/PARIS/179: [Paris Convention] Cessation of Responsibility of the United Kingdom, from July 1, 1997, for International Rights and Obligations Arising from the Application of the Paris Convention to Hong Kong". wipo.int. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
  9. ^ Christie, Andrew (2020). Blackstone's Statutes on Intellectual Property. Oxford University Press. p. 452. ISBN 978-0-19-886102-7.
  10. ^ "Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property (as amended on September 28, 1979) (Official translation)". wipo.int. WIPO. Retrieved 5 June 2020. Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property of March 20, 1883, as revised at Brussels on December 14, 1900, at Washington on June 2, 1911, at The Hague on November 6, 1925, at London on June 2, 1934, at Lisbon on October 31, 1958, and at Stockholm on July 14, 1967, and as amended on September 28, 1979
  11. ^ WIPO web site, What is WIPO?. Consulted on 10 August 2007.

Further reading

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