click to enlarge (photo credit: WIPO/Berrod)
When the UK chose the path of Brexit, I blogged this:
The UK does not belong to Hague. It will be particularly helpful if the UK were to join Hague right away.
That was in June of 2016. I had blogged here (October 2017) and here (December 2017) that this development was imminent. Now indeed the UK has joined the Hague Agreement (WIPO press release here).
Today WIPO announced that starting today ( February 28, 2018) the Hague Agreement e-filing interface and international application form DM/1 have a new item to allow the provision of an access code via DAS. What does this mean? How will it affect you? Is there anything bad that will happen to practitioners who don’t know about this or fail to make use of this new item?
If an applicant pursues US design protection using the Hague Agreement system, there are several mistakes to avoid, as I will discuss. Continue reading
It will be recalled (see my blog article of December 14, 2017) that most USPTO patent fees will increase, some substantially, on Tuesday, January 16, 2018. This presents an opportunity to save money. If there is some fee that you were considering paying on or after January 16, maybe you should pay it earlier, for example on Monday, January 15.
Most USPTO patent fees will increase, some rather substantially, on January 16, 2018. You can see the Federal Register notice here. Here are some examples of fee increases that will take effect on that day: Continue reading
Mr. Alexandr Alimov (left) deposits the instrument of ratification with WIPO’s Director General Francis Gurry (Photo: WIPO)
Russia has joined the Hague Agreement.
On November 30, 2017, the Government of the Russian Federation deposited its instrument of ratification of the Hague Agreement with WIPO’s Director General Francis Gurry. The Hague Agreement will thus enter into force in the Russian Federation on February 28, 2018.
As I reported a week ago, the usual autumn thing happened with time zones. A week ago Europe “fell back” with daylight saving time.
Now today the US also “fell back”.
For the past week, US filers had an extra hour available to get a same-day filing date for filings at WIPO. A US filer could file as late as 5PM (Mountain Time) instead of the usual 4PM, and get a same-day filing date.
Now it is back to normal. The time of day to keep in mind is once again 4PM Mountain Time.
Filers in the Patent Cooperation Treaty, Madrid Protocol, and Hague Agreement systems (utility patents, trademarks, and industrial designs) know that it is important to keep always in mind when midnight will arrive in Geneva, where WIPO is located.
For a PCT filer, this matters because to get a same-day filing date, a PCT application being filed in RO/IB will (usually) need to be filed by 4 PM Mountain Time. The same is true for filing an Article 19 amendment. The same is true if you are using ePCT to file a Demand and Article 34 amendment.
For a Madrid filer, this matters among other things for the payment of decade renewal fees.
For a Hague filer, this matters for the the filing of an international design application at the IB.
The point of today’s post is that starting yesterday, and for the next week, you get an extra hour to get a same-day filing date. The reason is that Europe and the US carry out their daylight saving time transitions on different days that are a week apart.
This means that you could file as late as 5 PM Mountain Time (instead of the usual 4 PM) and still get a same-day filing date.
Things will return to normal a week from now, on November 5, 2016.
I had an opportunity to talk with a very nice person from WIPO. This very nice person tells me that there are quite a few countries that are likely to join the Hague Agreement soon. Listed in approximate sequence of when they might join are:
The typical first very visible step would be for a country to deposit an Instrument of Accession with the International Bureau of WIPO. The usual next development would be that the Hague Agreement would enter into force, with respect to that country, three months later.
This is a very exciting time for the Hague Agreement.
Readers will recall my blog post of two weeks ago in which I described that an American filer would (for a limited time of two weeks) have an extra hour during which to file a same-day filing at the IB. Well, now it’s back to normal. Now the drop-dead time for e-filing (or fax filing) is the usual 4PM (Mountain Time).
So for your PCT filing at the RO/IB, or your direct filing of a Hague Agreement design application, or your payment of a renewal for a Madrid Protocol international trademark registration, or an Article 19 amendment, or a PCT Demand … it’s back to normal.