Montenegro gets the long list treatment

Recently published in the European Commission's Official Journal is the Council Decision of 15 October 2007 concerning the signing and conclusion of the Interim Agreement on trade and trade-related matters between the European Community and the Republic of Montenegro. This is a very short Decision consisting of just two Articles, the main bit of which is Article 1:

"1. The Interim Agreement on trade and trade-related matters between the European Community, of the one part, and the Republic of Montenegro, of the other part, the Annexes and Protocols annexed thereto, as well as the joint declarations and the declaration by the Community attached to the Final Act are hereby approved on behalf of the Community",

which now has the power to sign it. The Interim Agreement itself is somewhat longer, weighing in at a whopping (and relatively unreadable) 325 pages. The IPKat however spares no effort in bringing IP news to his readers, so he can tell you that there's an IP bit in Article 40:

"Intellectual, industrial and commercial property

1. Pursuant to the provisions of this Article and Annex VI, the Parties confirm the importance that they attach to ensuring adequate and effective protection and enforcement of intellectual, industrial and commercial property rights.

2. From entry into force of this Agreement, the Parties shall grant to each others companies and nationals, in respect of the recognition and protection of intellectual, industrial and commercial property, treatment no less favourable than that granted by them to any third country under bilateral Agreements.

3. Montenegro shall take the necessary measures in order to guarantee no later than five years after entry into force of this Agreement a level of protection of intellectual, industrial and commercial property rights similar to that existing in the Community, including effective means of enforcing such rights.

4. Montenegro undertakes to accede, within the period referred above, to the multilateral conventions on intellectual, industrial and commercial property rights referred to in Annex VI. The Interim Committee may decide to oblige Montenegro to accede to specific multilateral Conventions in this area.

5. If problems in the area of intellectual, industrial and commercial property affecting trading conditions occur, they shall be referred urgently to the Interim Committee, at the request of either Party, with a view to reaching mutually satisfactory solutions".

Annex VI itself consists of a list:

"INTELLECTUAL, INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL PROPERTY RIGHTS referred to in Article 40 of this Agreement ...:

Article 40(4) of this Agreement ... concerns the following Multilateral Conventions to which Member States are Parties, or which are de facto applied by Member States:

— Convention establishing the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO Convention, Stockholm, 1967, as amended in 1979),
— Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (Paris Act, 1971),
— Brussels Convention Relating to the Distribution of Programme-Carrying Signals Transmitted by Satellite (Brussels, 1974),
— Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure (Budapest, 1977, as amended in 1980),
— Hague Agreement Concerning the International Deposit of Industrial Designs (London Act, 1934 and The Hague Act,1960),
— Locarno Agreement Establishing an International Classification for Industrial Designs (Locarno, 1968, as amended in 1979),
— Madrid Agreement concerning the International Registration of Marks (Stockholm Act, 1967 and amended in 1979),
— Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks (Madrid Protocol, 1989),
— Nice Agreement concerning the International Classification of Goods and Services for the purposes of the Registration of Marks (Geneva, 1977 and amended in 1979),
— Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property (Stockholm Act, 1967 and amended in 1979),
— Patent Cooperation Treaty (Washington, 1970, as amended in 1979 and modified in 1984),
— Patent Law Treaty (Geneva, 2000),
— International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV Convention, Paris, 1961, as revised in 1972, 1978 and 1991),
— Convention for the Protection of Producers of Phonograms against Unauthorised Duplications of their Phonograms (Phonograms Convention, Geneva, 1971),
— International Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organisations (Rome Convention, 1961),
— Strasbourg Agreement Concerning the International Patent Classification (Strasbourg, 1971, as amended in 1979),
— Trademark Law Treaty (Geneva, 1994),
— Vienna Agreement Establishing an International Classification of the Figurative Elements of Marks (Vienna, 1973, as amended in 1985),
— WIPO Copyright Treaty (Geneva, 1996),
— WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (Geneva, 1996),
— The European Patent Convention,
— WTO Agreement of Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights".

The IPKat, ever fascinated by detail, notices that there are some multilateral IP treaties and conventions that are not on the list. He wonders how many of them will be spotted by his readers. Merpel wonders, is "European Patent Convention" any old European Patent Convention, or is it specifically EPC 2000?

Montenegro big cats here, little cat here
Monteverdi here
Montevideo here
Montezuma here
Monty Python here