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DOC/PTO

RIN: 0651-AC87

Publication ID: Spring 2015

Title: Changes to Implement the Hague Agreement Concerning International Registration of Industrial Designs
Abstract: The Patent Law Treaties Implementation Act of 2012 (PLTIA) amends the patent laws to implement the provisions of the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement Concerning International Registration of Industrial Designs (Hague Agreement) in title I, and the Patent Law Treaty (PLT) in title II. The Hague Agreement allows an applicant to apply for design protection in member countries and intergovernmental organizations by filing of a single, standardized international design application in a single language. This notice proposes changes to the rules of practice to implement the Hague Agreement and title I of the PLTIA. The Patent Law Treaty and title II of the PLTIA are being implemented in a separate rulemaking. The notable changes in the Hague Agreement and title I of the PLTIA pertain to: (1) standardizing formal requirements for international design applications; (2) establishing the United States Patent and Trademark Office as an office through which international design applications may be filed; (3) providing a right of priority with respect to international design applications; (4) treating an international design application that designates the United States as having the same effect from its filing date as that of a national design application; (5) providing provisional rights for published international design applications that designate the United States; (6) extending the patent term for design patents to fifteen years from the date of patent grant; (7) providing for examination by the Office of international design applications that designate the United States; and (8) permitting an applicants failure to act within prescribed time limits in an international design application to be excused as to the United States under certain conditions.
Agency: Department of Commerce(DOC)	Priority: Substantive, Nonsignificant
RIN Status: Previously published in the Unified Agenda	Agenda Stage of Rulemaking: Completed Actions
Major: No	Unfunded Mandates: No
CFR Citation: 37 CFR 1.4 37 CFR 1.5 37 CFR 1.6 37 CFR 1.8 37 CFR 1.9
Legal Authority: 126 Stat 1527 (Hague Agreement Implementation Act (title l of the Patent Law Treaties Implementation Pub. L. 112-211 101 through 103

Legal Deadline: None

Timetable:

Action	Date	FR Cite
NPRM	11/29/2013	78 FR 71870
Second NPRM	01/17/2014	79 FR 3146
NPRM Comment Period End	01/28/2014
NPRM Comment Period Extended	02/04/2014
Final Rule	04/02/2015	80 FR 17918
Final Rule Effective	05/13/2015

Regulatory Flexibility Analysis Required: No	Government Levels Affected: None
Small Entities Affected: No	Federalism: No
Included in the Regulatory Plan: No
RIN Data Printed in the FR: No
Related RINs: Related to 0651-AC85
Agency Contact: Boris Milef Senior Patent Cooperation Treaty Legal Examiner Department of Commerce Patent and Trademark Office PO Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 22313 Phone:571 272-3288 Fax:571 273-3288 Email: boris.milef@uspto.gov