Paris convention for the protection of Industrial Property - I

We will be answering some of the “wh” questions in the forth coming international conventions.Wh questions are why,where,when,what,which,how.To begin with, Paris convention was one of the first and foremost international conventions that was convened for protecting industrial properties which is now known as intellectual property.

Position Prior to Paris convention

The position of law to protect industrial properties differed in each and every country before Paris convention came into existence.Mainly with respect to patents there were widely varying rules in countries.

For eg.- in some countries technical disclosures of patent were held until the term of patent expired

           - some countries published the patent as soon as it was filed, and 

           - in some countries it was published after granting patent to such inventions.

So when one country published patent disclosures upon filing, the patent is thereby known to public which lacks novelty.This in turn makes it difficult to apply patent in other countries where absolute novelty was a pre-condition.Also as trade developed, knowledge of  inventions flowed from one country to another without the consent of inventors,hence there was a prior knowledge of patent known to public which hindered the inventor to get patent protection in foreign countries.

Why Paris Convention?

            To streamline the process of protection of industrial property in a world wide basis.

            To harmonize the laws among all conuntries and achieve unification globally in terms of protection and procedures to be followed.

            To develop economy of each country by protecting one's own citizen and other foreign inventors, so that inflow and out flow of country's profit i.e the export and import is balanced.

Which instance paved way to create Paris convention?

             In 1873, Empire of Austrian-Hungarian conducted an international exhibition for inventions which had invited the inventors from all parts of the world to showcase their inventions.Not many inventors showed interest to exhibit their inventions as it would prevent them from acquiring patent protection due to lack of novelty.The main crux of patent is that it should not be previously published and that it should satisfy the three criteria i.e novelty,inventive step and industrial application.

It was after this exhibition that the austria enacted law to provide protection to foreign inventions.Also the congress of vienna for patent reform was convened in the same year 1873.There after an international congress for industrial property was convened  at paris in 1878.

When  and Where Paris Convention was convened?

In 1883, the paris convention for protection of industrial property came into existence.Until now it has been revised 6 times and the last revision was done in Stockholm.
To conclude, the major concern was to increase the economic conditions and industrial development of country by providing effective protectionist measures.

Thus, the next post would deal with provisions of paris convention had for patents and its impact in achieving a uniformity and harmonization of laws will be analysed.