Progress at WIPO

Two of your bloggers (David Stone representing MARQUES and Robert Watson representing FICPI) have just returned from the SCT meeting at WIPO in Geneva.

We are pleased to report that progress was made at the meeting, mainly due to the bold move of the International Bureau in providing a set of draft provisions on design formalities (found here).

Both MARQUES and FICPI are actively participating in the SCT, having submitted written comments on the design issues in advance of the meeting (FICPI paper & MARQUES paper)

The draft provisions prepared by the IB were discussed generally in a positive manner by the Member States, and the discussions provide plenty of food for thought for the International Bureau.

It was agreed to continue with the work of the Committee, and for the International Bureau to provide for the next meeting a two level document to provide a potential dynamic structure. This would mirror the approach taken for the Singapore Law Treaty.

This is clearly good news for formalities harmonisation and will hopefully bring benefits for the users of design systems in due course

WIPO committee recognises "importance" of design convergence work

A recent WIPO media release, "Member States Address Non-Traditional Marks, Advance Work on Industrial Designs" (Geneva, July 2, 2010, PR/2010/650) contains the "D" word in its title but is mainly about trade marks. In short, WIPO’s Standing Committee on Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications (SCT) met last week to address (among other things) "industrial design law issues". At the conclusion of its 23rd session, SCT Chairperson Adil El Maliki (Director General of the Patent and Trade Mark Office, Morocco) said

“All delegations attached great importance to the work of the SCT on possible convergences in the industrial design law and practice of member states and that the SCT supported the advancement of that work.”

This is probably a coded message that means "We think we're going to need a few more trips to Geneva to discuss this one ...". Despite the great importance of the subject, no further reference to it could be found in the media release.