New Parties to WIPO-Administered Treaties in 2006

During 2006, 43 instruments of accession or ratification and one declaration of continued application¹ of treaties administered by WIPO were deposited with WIPO Director General Kamil Idris. A significant development during the year 2006 was the adoption, on March 27, 2006, by the Diplomatic Conference for the Adoption of a Revised Trademark Law Treaty, of the Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks. The objective of the Singapore Treaty is to create a modern and dynamic international framework for the harmonization of administrative trademark registration procedures.

WIPO Convention - The Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization was signed at Stockholm on July 14, 1967, and entered into force in 1970. WIPO is responsible for the promotion of the protection of intellectual property throughout the world through cooperation among States, and for the administration of various multilateral treaties dealing with the legal and administrative aspects of intellectual property.

In 2006, Montenegro made a declaration of continued application in Montenegro of all the Treaties to which Serbia and Montenegro was a party, including the WIPO Convention, bringing the total number of WIPO Member States to 184.

In the field of industrial property

Paris Convention - The Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property was concluded in 1883 and is one of the pillars of the international intellectual property system. It applies to industrial property in the widest sense, including inventions, marks, industrial designs, utility models (a kind of "small patent" provided for by the laws of some countries), trade names (designations under which an industrial or commercial activity is carried on), geographical indications (indications of source and appellations of origin) and the repression of unfair competition.

In 2006, Yemen adhered to the Paris Convention and Montenegro made a declaration of continued application in Montenegro of the said Convention (2), bringing the total number of States to 171.

Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) - The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) was concluded in 1970. The PCT makes it possible to seek patent protection for an invention simultaneously in each of a large number of countries by filing an "international" patent application. Such an application may be filed by anyone who is a national or resident of a Contracting State. The Treaty regulates the formal requirements with which any international application must comply.

In 2006, Bahrain, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia and Malta adhered to the PCT and Montenegro made a declaration of continued application in Montenegro of the said Treaty (8) bringing the total number of States to 136.

Madrid Agreement and Madrid Protocol - The Madrid system for the International Registration of Marks (the Madrid system) is governed by two treaties: the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks (Madrid Agreement) and the Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks (Madrid Protocol).

The Madrid Agreement was concluded in 1891, and the Madrid Protocol was concluded in 1989 in order to introduce certain new features into the Madrid system. These address the difficulties that prevent certain countries from adhering to the Madrid Agreement by rendering the...