Boult Wade Tennant
Bulletins » China to join Hague system for International Designs.

Registered design protection is an effective way of protecting a product’s market share from similar looking competing products and obtaining registered designs can significantly improve a company’s position in case a dispute arises. Each country/region has their own laws regarding design protection and their own systems for registering designs. Therefore, it is necessary to obtain separate design rights for each country of interest (e.g. by filing separate national design applications in each country).  As a result, obtaining registered designs in many different countries can be costly. Moreover, maintaining and keeping track of individual designs in multiple countries can be complicated.

The Hague system provides a way for applicants to apply for a registered design centrally (at the World Intellectual Property Organization) and extend the geographic scope of the application to multiple different countries (though local professional advice may still be needed). Filing a single design application through the Hague system can be less expensive and less complicated than filing individual designs in each country of interest. Moreover, the Hague system provides a convenient way to manage and renew the registered design centrally. Therefore, many of our clients are choosing to file registered design applications via the Hague system, rather than through separate individual national applications.

It is not possible to extend a Hague design to every country in the world (the list of the 94 countries currently accessible via the Hague system). Moreover, in order to file a Hague application, an applicant must be based in one of the countries that are signed up to the Hague system.

However, the Hague system has now become even more attractive with the recent announcement that China is joining. The potential scope of Hague applications will be extended to include China as of 5 May 2022 and from that date Hague design applications will be available to applicants based in China.

The Chinese economic market is a key market for many of our clients and the addition of China to the Hague system will result in 9 out of the world’s top 10 economies being covered by the Hague system, according to the WIPO press release (although Hong Kong and Macau have their own systems and will not be covered by a Hague design designating China). This is a major update to the Hague agreement and we expect that the addition of China to the Hague system will result in a significant increase in the number of Hague applications being filed.

If we can assist you with an International design filing via the Hague system, or if you have any questions about Hague designs, please contact your usual Boult Wade Tennant advisor.

Relevant sectors
Aerospace
  • Commercial aviation
  • Defence and security
  • Space and satellites
  • Unmanned aerial vehicles
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
Automotive
  • Autonomous vehicles
  • Electric vehicles
  • Engines
Biotechnology
  • Antibody engineering
  • Antibody manufacture and formulation
  • Bioinformatics
  • Biosimilars
  • Drug delivery
  • Gene editing (e.g. CRISPR)
  • Genomic and molecular tools and methods
  • GM crops
  • Immuno-oncology (e.g. checkpoint inhibitors; modified T cells)
  • Next generation sequencing
  • Nucleic acid synthesis
  • Personalised medicine/disease biomarkers
  • Recombinant protein production and purification
  • Stem cell therapies
  • Supplementary protection certificates (SPCs)
  • Synthetic biology
  • Therapeutic antibodies
  • Vaccinology (e.g. viral vectors; mRNA vaccines)
  • Women’s health products
Chemicals
  • Agrochemicals
  • Catalysts
  • Dispersions and colloids
  • Lubricants
  • Polymers and plastics
Communications and Networks
  • Cloud computing
  • Internet of things (IOT)
  • Oceanography, marine
  • Wired and wireless networks
Computing and Software
  • Artificial intelligence and machine learning
  • Bioinformatics
  • Blockchain and distributed ledgers
  • Communications and networks
  • Computer games
  • Data and software security, cryptography and digital rights management (DRM)
  • Data management and storage, databases and data compression
  • Digital assistants, virtual assistants and software agents
  • Fintech and adtech
  • Machine vision
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  • Motor capture
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  • Quantum computing
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  • Software applications and systems, mobile applications, user interfaces
Consumer Goods and Retail
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  • Household goods
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  • Moda
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Electronics and Electrical Devices
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Energy and Green Technologies
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Food and Beverage
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Industrial Manufacturing and Processing
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Materials
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Medical Devices and Diagnostics
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Pharmaceuticals
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  • Methods of production and synthesis
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  • Pharmaceutical formulations
  • Pharmaceuticalsceutical formulations
  • Polymorphs
  • Small molecule pharmaceuticals
  • Supplementary protection certificates (SPCs)
Trade Marks
  • Consumer goods
  • Cosmetics and perfumery
  • Financial services
  • Mechanical engineering
  • Mechanical products
  • Services
  • Telecommunications
Relevant sectors
Designs