China signs up for treaty to protect industrial design IP
- UN agency chief says designers will be able to safeguard their work inside and outside the country
- Agreement will come into force in May and streamline registration of intellectual property
China has joined the World Intellectual Property Organization’s treaty on protecting industrial designs, which should help Chinese designers safeguard their work internationally, the UN agency said on Saturday.
Beijing has entered the WIPO’s Hague System for the international registration of industrial designs – as well as the Marrakech Treaty, making books for the visually impaired more accessible.
WIPO director general Daren Tang received China’s accession documents while in Beijing to attend the Winter Olympics opening ceremony, the Geneva-based agency said in a statement.
The WIPO said Chinese residents filed 795,504 designs in 2020, or 55 per cent of the worldwide total.
“The design community in China will find it easier to protect and bring their designs out of China, and overseas designers will find it easier to move their designs into one of the world’s largest and most-dynamic markets,” Tang said.
The Hague System eliminates the need to file and pay for separate design protection applications in each member country. It will apply to China when its accession comes into force on May 5.
Some larger Chinese businesses with plants in member countries, such as electronics firm Xiaomi and computer giant Lenovo, had already been adhering to the system, the agency said.
