KEI Briefing Note 2024:8 The Basic Proposal for the Design Law Treaty (DLT) and its inappropriate restrictions on transparency

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is holding a diplomatic conference from November 11 to 22, 2024 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to conclude and adopt a Design Law Treaty (DLT). The negotiators will be working from the documents dated May 10, 2024: a thirty-one page “Basic Proposal For The Design Law Treaty” (DLT/DC/3), and a sixteen page “Basic Proposal For The Regulations Under The Design Law Treaty” (DLT/DC/4), both documents submitted by the Director General of WIPO, as well as a nineteen page, “Notes On The Basic Proposal For The Design Law Treaty” (DTL/DC/5), prepared by the WIPO Secretariat. While the proposed treaty has been presented as one addressing formalities rather than substantive law, it contains several provisions which shape substantive law. This note examines the provisions in the proposal that would provide inappropriate restrictions on transparency. Of particular concern are the provisions in Article 3 of the treaty, which would limit the types of disclosures that can be included in an application for design protection, and the provisions in Article 15, which prohibit the disclosure of the financial terms of recorded licenses.