View source for Convention de Paris pour la protection de la propriété industrielle

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One key turning point in terms of [[Industrial property law]], as we proceed into the maturation of the Industrial Age, particularly as seen from an international and somewhat patent-focused perspective, is the [[Convention de Paris pour la protection de la propriété industrielle]]. This was signed in Paris, France, on 20 March 1883, and was one of the first intellectual property treaties. It established a [[International Union for the Protection of Industrial Property|Union for the protection of industrial property]]. The Convention is currently still in force. The substantive provisions of the Convention fall into three main categories: national treatment, priority right and common rules.<ref>[https://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ip/paris/summary_paris.html Summary of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property 1883]</ref> It is often called the Paris Convention in patents or intellectual property contexts.

After a diplomatic conference in Paris in 1880, the Convention was signed in 1883 by 11 countries: Belgium, Brazil, France, Guatemala, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, El Salvador, Serbia, Spain and Switzerland. Guatemala, El Salvador and Serbia denounced and reapplied the convention via accession.

The Treaty was revised at Brussels, Belgium, on 14 December 1900, at Washington, United States, on 2 June 1911, at The Hague, Netherlands, on 6 November 1925, at London, on 2 June 1934, at Lisbon, Portugal, on 31 October 1958, and at Stockholm, Sweden, on 14 July 1967. The Treaty was amended on 28 September 1979. The developments of 1900 and 1911 are somewhat fleshed out on our [[Union Treaty of June 2, 1911]]. There are cases of the 1900 revision, along with the initial treaty, being invoked or explicated on original patent documents, vis-à-vis [[priority date]] and otherwise.<ref>[[Patent DE-1909-242721‎]]</ref><ref>[[Patent DE-1910-251307‎]]</ref> There are cases of the 1911 revision being invoked or explicated on original patent documents, vis-à-vis [[priority date]] and otherwise.<ref>[[Patent DE-1918-353525‎]]</ref>  

Among nations party to this treaty and its protocols, the explication of compliance, in terms of dates of international significance displayed on actual patent documents, varies from to country to country. The French seem to have been most fastidious. See [[Patent FR-1913-461233]], for example. Reference is made to a Belgian original: “(Demande de brevet déposée en Belgique le 10 août 1912. - Déclaration du déposant.)” This phraseology is standardized, everything in terms of “Déclaration du déposant”. We don’t know of any false “déclarations”. In any case, this data is consistently entered on the French originals. Other nations seem to have been similarly fastidious. However, we have put international patent families together in which some later-filed patents make no such reference to the earliest analogous filing. Hungary presents an odd case, in that the antique originals seem to lack any such references, though our digital era colleagues have gone to the trouble of separately entering pertinent dates “of convention priority”. So, the Convention protocols were legally binding among signatory nations, though the explicit handling of this fact, whether contemporaneous or retrospective, has been handled variably, on a nation-by-nation basis.

=== Sources ===

See [[w:en:Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property|Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property on English Wikipedia]] or [[w:fr:Convention de Paris pour la protection de la propriété industrielle|Convention de Paris pour la protection de la propriété industrielle on French Wikipedia]].

=== Notes ===

It may be noted within our data that reference is often made to the laws passed in 1883, and that there is a traceable continuation of this framework up into our own day.

Likewise, fairly frequent references to this or that patent's "convention [[priority date]]" is a reference to the first filing date of any specific invention or innovation, be it an "addition" or not, in the context of fairly exact equivalent patents being filed in multiple nations, all in keeping with the legislation following from this conference. This is not always found on every patent original, and the "priority date" field on [[Espacenet]] only sometimes properly indicates data of this nature. In the case of Spanish data displayed on inventor-name-based results displays on Espacenet, we quite often see "priority dates" which are too late in fact to comport with this. In these cases, it seems likely that the data entered is that of the individiual patent's filing date, there perhaps not having been ready access to the true and internationally recognized priority date.

The use of the word "industrial", here, as opposed to "intellectual", seems to comport with the overwhelming usage of the times.

=== Signatories ===
Source: [[w:List of parties to international patent treaties]], which has more detailed information, e.g. on exact timing of ratification.
*Belgium	1884-07-07
*Brazil	1884-07-07
*France	1884-07-07
*Italy	1884-07-07
*Netherlands	1884-07-07[f]
*Portugal	1884-07-07
*Spain	1884-07-07
*Switzerland	1884-07-07
*Tunisia	1884-07-07
*United Kingdom	1884-07-07[k]
*Norway	1885-07-01
*Sweden	1885-07-01
*United States 1887-05-30
*Dominican Republic	1890-07-11
*Denmark	1894-10-01
*Japan	1899-07-15
*Germany	1903-05-01
*Mexico	1903-09-07
*Cuba	1904-11-17
*Austria	1909-01-01[a]
*Hungary	1909-01-01[a]
*Morocco	1917-07-30
*Poland	1919-11-10
*Romania	1920-10-06
*Bulgaria	1921-06-13
*Finland	1921-09-20
*Luxembourg	1922-06-30
*Lebanon	1924-09-01
*Syria	1924-09-01
*Greece	1924-09-28
*Canada	1925-06-12
*Australia	1925-10-10
*Turkey	1925-10-10
*Ireland	1925-12-04
*New Zealand	1931-07-29[h]
*Liechtenstein	1933-07-14
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[[Category:Historical context]]
[[Category:Law]]