Growing union: changing face of the Hague agreement

Designs laws are frequently described as the least harmonised of all of the intellectual property regimes, internationally. As a consequence, there remains real flexibility for countries to prescribe national requirements for design protection, in contrast to other regimes. The diversity in national approaches is partly a reflection of divergent philosophies towards design protection, and partly a result of the practical difficulties that exist for countries implementing systems of legal protection. This paper surveys the Hague Yearly Review – an empirical snapshot produced by WIPO each year – to examine the changing face of the Hague Union, and assess whether the Hague Agreement does more than just facilitate international designs protection.