On February 5, 2022, China officially joined two key treaties of the World Intellectual Property Organization, the Hague System and the Marrakesh Treaty, both of which will officially enter into force in China on May 5, 2022.

While attending the opening ceremony of 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games, WIPO Director General Daren Tang received China's accession document to the 1999 Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement from Changyu Shen, the Commissioner of China National Intellectual Property Administration. It is noted that Chinese residents filed a total of 795,504 designs in 2020, representing some 55% of the worldwide total. China’s entry into the Hague System will make it easier and cheaper for these designers to protect and promote their works overseas.

At the same time, Mr. Tang also received China's accession document to the Marrakesh Treaty from Jianchun Zhang, Vice Minister of National Copyright Administration of China. The Marrakesh Treaty is the only human rights treaty in the copyright field in the world so far, and will further guarantee the equal access to culture and education for people with blindness or visual impairments. With China's entry into the Marrakesh Treaty, people who are blind or have other visual impairments will benefit from having greater access to China’s old and rich continuing literary and cultural traditions.

Background

About the Hague System

The Hague System provides a straightforward solution to international design protection. Applicants file one online international application and pay one set of fees to register up to 100 designs in more than 90 countries, which eliminates the need to file separate and multiple applications in individual countries or regions.

China's accession to the Hague System provides Chinese applicants with a flexible and convenient approach to international design protection, which greatly saves the applicants' cost and time. In fact, before China joined the Hague System, some Chinese enterprises such as Xiaomi and Lenovo have already used the Hague system to submit many international design applications, which shows that the Hague system can better meet their demand for an easier and faster way to operate internationally. The increasing demand from Chinese enterprises to apply for design patents overseas is the fundamental reason why China decides to join the Hague System.

The initial protection term for a design patent under Hague System is 5 years, after which the design can be renewed twice, to ensure at least 15 years protection. Where the national law of the designated country allows a longer design patent term, it will also apply to the international design under the Hague system. China’s Patent Law revised in 2020 has extended the protection term of design patents to 15 years, making preparation for joining the Hague System.

(Note: The instrument of accession also specified that the 1999 Act will not be applied in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region or the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China until otherwise notified by the Government of the People’s Republic of China.)

About the Marrakesh Treaty

The WIPO-administered Marrakesh Treaty makes the production and international transfer of specially-adapted books for people with blindness or visual impairments easier, by establishing a set of limitations and exceptions to traditional copyright law. It is WIPO’s fastest growing treaty and includes 84 contracting parties before China's accession comes into force on May 5, 2022.