Norway goes all the way ... to Geneva

Last month Class 99 asked if Norway was about to join the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement, thus completing the set of European Union and non-EU EFTA states. Well, Solvår Winnie Finnanger (Senior Legal Advisor, Design and Trademark Department, Norwegian Industrial Property Office) has emailed to say that Norway is indeed finally acceding to the Geneva Act ("We have been waiting for this for a long time!", she adds), pointing out that her office's website has all the necessary information ready and available in English here.

Germany joins Geneva Act

Germany has signed up to the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement, which will take effect on February 13th. It is hard to see what benefits this will bring German applicants, as Germany has since 1928 been a member of all previous versions of Hague, and has (via OHIM) been effectively a party to the Hague Act since January 1st 2008. However, for members of Geneva Act-only countries, it will open the "national route" to cover in Germany if that is preferred to going through the OHIM route. One reason for going the national route might be to get improved protection for spare parts since Germany has not adopted a "repair clause" under its national design law equivalent to the EU Community Design provisions of CDR Art 110.