On June 26th, the seminar on the “Hague System for the International Registration of Industrial Designs”, co-hosted by WIPO and SIPO and organized by the Intellectual Property Office of Shenzhen, was held in Shenzhen. Mr. Yuguang Li, the deputy director of SIPO, Mr. Guoliang Lu, the chief of the International Cooperation Bureau, Mr. Alan Morgan Datri, the senior counselor of the Office of the Assistant Director General of TIDGI Sector of WIPO and Mr. Yingli Liu, the deputy mayor of Shenzhen, participated in the opening ceremony. Mr. Yuguang Li said that China is considering joining the Hague System.

　　In the opening remark, Mr. Li said that the Hague System is an effective tool that all domestic small-to-medium-sized enterprises cannot ignore while taking part in the international competitions. Although China is not yet included in the system, the country is contemplating this issue. Li also said that in recent years, China has been developing speedily in terms of industrial designs patents. In 2005, China accepted 163,000 applications regarding industrial designs patents, of which 81,000 patents were granted. As of May this year, the total number of applications of industrial designs patents has reached 815,000 and 538,000 patents have been granted.

　　It is understood that the “Hague System for the International Registration of Industrial Designs” is an effective international mechanism that is used exclusively to simplify the process and maintaining protections for industrial designs. The core content stems from the 《Hague Agreement of the International Registration of Industrial Designs》 that was signed in 1925.

2006-07-10

2006-07-10