During the 13th session of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Working Group on the Legal Development of the Hague System for the International Registration of Industrial Designs, the Ukrainian delegation called for an end to attempts to legitimize the russian occupation of the territories of Ukraine and opposed the introduction of the russian language in the Hague system. The session lasted from 21 to 23 October 2024.

In her opening remarks, WIPO Deputy Director General, Mrs. Binying Wang drew attention to the improvement of the quality, accessibility and uniformity of the Hague System for its users. The speech also highlighted the significant progress in the development of the system, the impact of digitalization and digitization, as well as the positive dynamics of statistical data in 2023 - an increase in the number of filings by 7.4% compared to the previous year and further maintenance of this trend in 2024.

In 2025, the international community will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Hague System, take stock of the results, assess the challenges and further areas for improvement.

WIPO Deputy Director General Ms. Wang Binying

Ukrainian delegation calls to stop attempts to legitimize russian occupation

Bogdan Paduchak, First Deputy Director of the Ukrainian IP Office, who joined the meeting online, emphasized the devastating consequences of the russian federation's aggressive war against Ukraine for the intellectual property sphere, creative and innovative sectors and economy, which continue to deepen.

“Since 2022, the enemy has launched more than 1,000 attacks on energy infrastructure. russian missile and drone strikes have already destroyed 9,2 GW of generation capacity, while the peak energy consumption in Ukraine last winter was 18 GW. The russians are continuing to destroy Ukraine's cultural heritage on a scale unseen since World War II. They have already damaged or destroyed more than 2,000 objects of cultural infrastructure. UNESCO estimates the total cost of the damage to Ukraine's cultural and tourism sectors over the past 2 years at nearly 3.5 billion USD” – noted Bogdan Paduchak.

First Deputy Director of the Ukrainian IP Office, Bogdan Paduchak

Emphasizing the need to introduce effective measures to implement this year's decision of the 65th WIPO General Assembly and to ensure respect for the principle of territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders, Bogdan Paduchak called for stopping the actions of the aggressor country, which “is deliberately trying to legitimize its military occupation, including by providing false information about the addresses of applicants from the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine through global IP services such as the Hague system”.

Ukraine's application was supported:

• Moldova - on behalf of the CEBS group;
• The Netherlands - on behalf of Group B;
• Hungary - on behalf of the EU.

In particular, the representative of Moldova, condemning the unlawful bloody actions of the russian federation, emphasized:

“The number of designs contained in international applications with the designation of Ukraine reached 1717 designs contained in 496 applications in 2023 – the lowest figure ever according to WIPO statistics database. These alarming numbers are being presented over and over again during each dedicated WIPO session, reflecting not only the unprecedented damage to the infrastructure serving scientific, educational, research, and cultural institutions, but more importantly, the loss of potential and capacity within Ukraine’s IP ecosystem”.

The agenda of the Working Group meeting includes discussion of the following issues:

• Priority Documents in the Context of the Hague System (document H/LD/WG/13/2);
   
• Topical Aspects Relating to the Development of the Hague System (document H/LD/WG/13/3): applications containing multiple classes; division of such multi-class international applications into national applications; methods of representing industrial designs;
   
• Proposal for Amendments to the Administrative Instructions (document H/LD/WG/13/4);
   
• Proposal from the Delegation of China concerning the possibility of introducing the Chinese language into the Hague System for the International Registration of Industrial Design (document H/LD/WG/13/5).

On the possible introduction of new languages of the Hague system

The agenda item on the possible introduction of new languages, in particular the proposal of the Chinese delegation on the possibility of introducing Chinese into the list of official languages of the Hague system (document H/LD/WG/13/5), provoked a lively discussion.

russia supported the proposal and indicated its readiness to discuss and update information in favor of the official use of the russian language in the Hague system.

The delegations of Group B, CEBS, France, and the United States called for a more detailed analysis of the criteria used to determine the feasibility of introducing a language into the Hague system and expressed reservations, as stated in document H/LD/WG/12/8, regarding the need for a more detailed study of the technical, organizational and financial implications of such actions.

“The delegation of Ukraine would like highlight that the complexity of managing additional languages raises concerns about the efficiency and accuracy of the system, particularly in terms of translation quality and the potential strain on resources. The introduction of new languages should be based on a well-balanced and gradual, inclusive approach, clear criteria grounded on objective data, and such criteria should ensure that the benefits of introducing a new language outweigh any possible disadvantages. For the time being, delegation of Ukraine would like to reiterate our strong opposition to the idea of introducing russian into the Hague System”, - said Bogdan Paduchak, First Deputy Director of the Ukrainian IP Office.

The discussion resulted in the rejection of proposals promoting the introduction of the russian language into the Hague system, a decision to take into account the concerns of member states, including Ukraine, on this issue and to continue the discussion at the next sessions, requesting the WIPO International Bureau to prepare updated statistical and project materials.

30 October 2024