IPOPHL encourages local designers to expand worldwide amid accession to the Hague Agreement in 2024
04 November 2023
The Philippines aims to join the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs (IDs) by 2024, offering local designers a more accessible and cost-effective way to protect their creations on a global scale.
Following the Hague Agreement, designers can use the World Intellectual Property Organization’s (WIPO) eHague online system to submit a single ID application with minimal documentation. The system only accepts one set of specifications and requires payment in Swiss francs per transaction. Thanks to the unified management system, applicants can choose whether to focus on local or national markets.
A local designer can safeguard their IDs in several countries via the Hague method, which offers a streamlined worldwide filing method.
“This can be advantageous, especially for our small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) who can avail themselves of the Hague System’s services and enjoy lower cost in filing fees compared with filing individually in each country,” said IPOPHL Director General Rowel S. Barba. “Once this is in place, hopefully next year after our accession, we encourage more designers to take advantage of it.”
The Hague System currently has 79 member states, or 96 nations, because intergovernmental organizations are permitted to join to the agreement. The Philippines will become the fifth nation in the ASEAN after joining in 2024.
To ensure that local stakeholders are well prepared to benefit from the Hague Agreement upon admission next year, IPOPHL will be distributing information at the local level through campaigns and other efforts.
- Excel V. Dyquiangco
