[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.