The United States Deposits Ratification of the 1999 Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement and Becomes a Member Country of the Hague System

On Friday, February 13, 2015, the United States deposited an instrument of ratification to the 1999 Geneva Act (Geneva Act) of the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs (Hague Agreement) with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). With this final step by the United States to become a signatory to the Geneva Act, qualifying U.S. applicants will be able to more easily protect their design patents in member countries and intergovernmental organizations (Contracting Parties) that have also signed on to the Geneva Act.