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Title 35 — PatentsRelease 119-73not60

§389 Examination of International Design Application

Title 35 › Part V— THE HAGUE AGREEMENT CONCERNING INTERNATIONAL REGISTRATION OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGNS › Chapter 38— INTERNATIONAL DESIGN APPLICATIONS › § 389

Last updated Apr 5, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Director must examine any international design application that names the United States. Important questions about the application and, unless a treaty or the rules say otherwise, how the application is handled are decided the same way as for regular U.S. design applications filed under chapter 16. The Director may set fees for filing, for designating the United States, and for other processing or services, and may allow paying later with extra charges for late payment. The Director may also issue a patent from such an international design application, and that patent has the same legal effect as a patent issued from a chapter 16 application.

Full Legal Text

Title 35, §389

Patents — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The Director shall cause an examination to be made pursuant to this title of an international design application designating the United States.
(b)All questions of substance and, unless otherwise required by the treaty and Regulations, procedures regarding an international design application designating the United States shall be determined as in the case of applications filed under chapter 16.
(c)The Director may prescribe fees for filing international design applications, for designating the United States, and for any other processing, services, or materials relating to international design applications, and may provide for later payment of such fees, including surcharges for later submission of fees.
(d)The Director may issue a patent based on an international design application designating the United States, in accordance with the provisions of this title. Such patent shall have the force and effect of a patent issued on an application filed under chapter 16.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

Section effective on the later of the date that is 1 year after Dec. 18, 2012, or the date that the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs enters into force with respect to the United States (May 13, 2015), and applicable only to certain applications filed on and after that

Effective Date

and patents issuing thereon, see section 103 of Pub. L. 112–211, set out as an

Effective Date

of 2012 Amendment note under section 100 of this title.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

35 U.S.C. § 389

Title 35 — Patents

Last Updated

Apr 5, 2026

Release point: 119-73not60