Canada and the United Kingdom join the Hague System

On March 13 of 2018, the Government of the UK deposited its instrument of accession of the Geneva Act (1999) of the Hague Agreement.

Recently on July 16 of 2018, the Gorvernment of Canada did the same, making it the 69th member of the Hague Union.

By joining this system, applicants from both countries will be able to designate 69 countries regarding registrations up to 100 industrial designs. This means the process for applicants will be simpler since it will only be necessary to do one application and pay a single set of fees.

Applicants from other member countries will also be able to designate both countries when filing for international design applications. Currently, protecting industrial designs in the UK is possible since the European Union is a contracting party. When the UK leaves the EU, applicants will continue to be able to protect their international designs in the jurisdiction by designating the UK directly and not th