[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 17]
[Senate]
[Page 21895]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




      REMOVAL OF INJUNCTION OF SECRECY--TREATY DOCUMENT NO. 109-21

  Mr. FRIST. As in executive session, I ask unanimous consent that the 
injunction of secrecy be removed from the following treaty transmitted 
to the Senate on November 13, 2006, by the President of the United 
States:
  Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement Concerning the International 
Registration of Industrial Designs, Treaty Document No. 109-21.
  I further ask that the treaty be considered as having been read the 
first time; that it be referred, with accompanying papers, to the 
Committee on Foreign Relations and ordered to be printed; and that the 
President's message be printed in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The message of the President is as follows:

To the Senate of the United States:
  With a view to receiving the advice and consent of the Senate to 
ratification, I transmit herewith the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement 
Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs (the 
``Agreement''), adopted in Geneva on July 2, 1999, and signed by the 
United States on July 6, 1999. I also transmit, for the information of 
the Senate, a report of the Department of State with respect to the 
Agreement.
  This Agreement promotes the ability of U.S. design owners to protect 
their industrial designs by allowing them to obtain multinational 
design protection through a single deposit procedure. Under the 
Agreement, U.S. design owners would be able to file for design 
registration in any number of the Contracting Parties with a single 
standardized application in English at either the U.S. Patent and 
Trademark Office or at the International Bureau of the World 
Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Similarly, renewal of a 
design registration in each Contracting Party may be made by filing a 
single request along with payment of the appropriate fees at the 
International Bureau of WIPO. This Agreement should make access to 
international protection of industrial designs more readily available 
to U.S. businesses.
  In the event that the Senate provides its consent to ratify the 
Agreement, the United States would not deposit its instrument of 
ratification until the necessary implementing legal structure has been 
established domestically.
  I recommend that the Senate give early and favorable consideration to 
this Agreement and give its advice and consent to its ratification, 
subject to the declarations described in the accompanying report of the 
Department of State.
                                                      George W. Bush.  
The White House, November 13, 2006.

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