Recently the countries of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) approved a new treaty providing for more standardization in national standards for protecting designs in various countries. The treaty sets a maximum list of indications or elements that must be submitted with design applications, allows for grace periods and relief measures for missing some deadlines, provides applicants some flexibility in how designs are represented in applications (at least in drawings or photographs), and provides for expanded electronic filings and electronic exchange of priority documents between member states.

The treaty is not expected to have a significant impact on U.S. design patent law, since all of these provisions are already part of U.S. law. However, it will provide harmonization between the design protection process for different countries, which should enable design protection to be obtained multinationally at reduced cost.

The Riyadh Design Law Treaty will go into effect once it has been agreed to (by ratification or accession) by 15 member countries. This is the second WIPO treaty of 2024, coming hot on the heels of May’s finalization of the WIPO Treaty on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources, and Associated Traditional Knowledge. That earlier treaty has since gone into effect, with 36 countries becoming signatories by July 2024, so it is expected that the Riyadh Design Law Treaty will begin to have an impact in a few months.