The Patent Law Treaty was adopted in 2000 and entered into force on April 28, 2005. The Patent Law Treaty aims to coordinate the formal requirements of national and regional patent offices and simplify the procedures for obtaining and maintaining patents.
The main contents of its regulations include: the requirements for obtaining an application date and the relevant procedures to prevent applicants from losing the application date due to failure to meet the formal requirements; a single set of internationally standardized formal requirements applicable to national and regional patent offices, which are consistent with the formal requirements of the Patent Cooperation Treaty; standard application forms that all offices should accept; simplified approval procedures; mechanisms to prevent applicants from losing their rights due to non-intentional failure to comply with deadlines; and basic rules for the application of electronic applications. At the same time, the treaty stipulates the highest requirements that the patent offices of the contracting parties can apply. Except for the application date conditions, which are exceptional matters, the patent offices of the contracting parties may not add any formal conditions to the matters stipulated in this treaty. Therefore, the contracting parties are free to stipulate requirements that are more favorable to them from the perspective of applicants and right holders.
The Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks, referred to as the Singapore Treaty, was formulated on the basis of the 1994 Trademark Law Treaty, but has a wider scope of application and can be used to deal with some recent issues in the field of communication technology. It was adopted on March 28, 2006 at the “Diplomatic Conference for the Adoption of the Revised Trademark Law Treaty” hosted by the World Intellectual Property Organization and undertaken by the Singapore Government. From March 28, 2006 to March 27, 2007, the Singapore Treaty was open for signature for one year at the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Geneva headquarters. At present, 51 countries and organizations have signed the treaty.
my country signed the treaty on January 29, 2007.