Locarno in the limelight

Abstract

International IP treaties and conventions cover those that are high-profile, politically sensitive documents to those that scarcely register on the consciousness of the average practitioner. The epitome of the former is TRIPs—the Agreement on Trade-Related IP Rights— which is rarely off the IP agenda. At the other end of the scale can be found such rare creatures as the Stresa Convention of 1953 on the use of names and designations of origins of cheese, a collector’s item if ever there was one. Not quite as obscure as the Stresa Convention, but down in the basement with some other dull and dusty documents, is the Locarno Agreement Establishing an International Classification for Industrial Designs. Concluded in 1968, when America was rocked by the Tet Offensive, the British were rocked by the Beatles Double White album and the Czech ‘Prague Spring’ was crushed by Russian tanks, the Locarno Agreement came into force. With fewer than 50 national adherents, Locarno is not one of the must-sign obligations that every good country must endorse. Yet it quietly does its little bit, by providing a classification system enabling examiners to perform design searches more efficiently and accurately. The Locarno system is constantly revised and updated, with a new edition being published about every 5 years. Recently, the Locarno system has been in the news following an initiative taken by MARQUES, the association of European trade mark proprietors. The initiative calls for a serious effort to modernize and improve the operation of the Locarno, especially the basis on which design concepts are classified. As MARQUES succinctly puts it: