The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) held a public forum on Tuesday, January 14, 2014, at the USPTO campus in Alexandria, Virginia, to discuss implementation of Title I of the Patent Law Treaties Implementation Act of 2012 ("PLTIA"). The law, which serves as the implementing legislation for the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs ("the Hague Agreement"), enables applicants to file a single international design application to pursue protection in multiple jurisdictions across the globe.
On November 29, 2013, the USPTO published a notice in the Federal Register seeking written comments on proposed changes to the rules of practice to implement Title I of the PLTIA.
The PLTIA and the proposed rules call for the following:
- standardizing formal requirements for international design applications;
- establishing the USPTO as an office through which international design applications may be filed;
- provide for substantive examination by the Office of international design applications that designate the United States;
- provide provisional rights for published international design applications that designate the United States;
- and set the patent term for design patents at 15 years from the date of patent grant.
Additional Resources:
- Further information about the proposed rules and upcoming forum may be found in the Federal Register Notice.
- Public forum