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The creator of an industrial design may achieve protection in the states that are member of the Hague Agreement (currently 46 states, see list under http://www.wipo.int/treaties/fr/ShowResults.jsp?lang=fr&treaty_id=9), by filing a single application with a single office (the World Intellectual Property Organization - WIPO in Geneva) and paying a single fee. An international deposit will produce the same effects as a national application in the designated countries, provided the national administration of such country does not issue a refusal of protection. The minimum period of protection is 10 years, but if the national laws provide a longer period of protection, the international deposit can be renewed, for this state, until expiration of the total period of protection afforded to the national states (Germany: 20 years, Switzerland and France: 25 years).
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