Brazil is in preparation to enter the Hague System for Industrial Designs; this move makes it close to being the first South American country to do so. The proposal for the adherence to the Hague System (Genebra Act) was made before Brazil’s National Congress by President Jair Bolsonaro. This decision allows Brazilian design owners to concentrate all filings in a single application which will confer intellectual property rights to the owner in all 68 member nations.
The Hague Agreement consist of three different IP treaties one of which is the Genebra Act, the entire system is an international registry of sorts that protects registered industrial designs in all member nation territories in a application filed before the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
There are certain conditions and requirements that must be fulfilled by an applicant for the application to be registered. The process is not automatic, filings will be analyzed by WIPO, after which if it is accepted it will be published in WIPO’s bulletin where a member nation may refuse design protection in case of non-compliance with internal legislation.
As of now this simplified process is not available to Brazilian citizens yet as it still not a member. The adherence proceeding is still being processed and is expected to take one-to-two years.
Comments