    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 42, Number 46 (Monday, November 20, 2006)]
    [Page 2051]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Message to the Senate Transmitting the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement
    Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs

    November 13, 2006

    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.