Background/Introduction
The Riyadh Design Treaty, formally adopted in Saudi Arabia in 2024 under the auspices of the World Intellectual Property Organization [WIPO], is the first WIPO-administered treaty dedicated specifically to the international registration of industrial designs, to simplify, harmonise, and modernise protection for creators across borders.
In our modern, competitive world, unique product design plays a pivotal role in attracting consumers and has consequently been highly valued by manufacturers and sellers to make their goods, items, appliances, motors, methods and techniques unique and in order to protect these unique expressions. In response, the legislation and protection of designs have become a focus of both national governments and international organizations. Nonetheless, the mechanisms for securing design protection differ across jurisdictions. In some countries, protection is obtained through the registration of designs as registered designs, while in others it is afforded under patent law in the form of design patents, which are typically granted only after a detailed examination of the application by the relevant intellectual property office. The treaty emerged from years of negotiation and the growing recognition that design-driven industries, spanning fashion, technology, consumer goods, and digital products, form a vital part of the global economy. Unlike patents or trademarks, industrial designs often face fragmented national protection systems, creating legal and financial hurdles for designers and businesses seeking to scale internationally. The Riyadh Design Treaty seeks to bridge this gap by offering a unified system that allows applicants to file a single international design application, which can then be recognized across multiple member states. For developing countries and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the treaty promises lower costs, faster procedures, and improved access to international markets, making it not only a legal instrument but also an economic enabler.
Contracting Parties & Signatories (as of mid-2025)
The Treaty was adopted on 22 November 2024 at the WIPO diplomatic conference and garnered support from 18 contracting States that signed the treaty at the Diplomatic Conference and subsequently. However, the treaty will only enter into force three months after at least 15 ratifications or accessions are deposited with WIPO and as of September, 2025, no country has yet ratified or acceded to the treaty.
The following nations have signed the treaty: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Costa Rica, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Lebanon, Paraguay, Philippines, Republic of Moldova, Saudi Arabia, Uruguay, and Uzbekistan. Ratification remains outstanding for these African nations.
Specifically in Africa there are:
- Central African Republic
- Congo
- Côte d’Ivoire
- Gambia
- Ghana
- Morocco
- Sao Tomé and Principe
- Sudan
- Zimbabwe
What does the treaty mean for African countries?
The RDLT outlines several key topics within its 34 articles and 18 regulations, including foundational elements like definitions and general principles, as well as procedural aspects such as the requirements for representation before an Office of a signatory country. Some notable provisions adopted within the Treaty and its Regulations are:
- Article 4 of the Treaty establishes a list of the elements and indications that a signatory state may require for an industrial design application. The closed list outlines a maximum amount of permissible contents and Contracting Parties are prohibited from asking for additional requirements not included in this list.
- Contracting Parties may also require applicants to provide “information on traditional cultural expressions and traditional knowledge, of which the applicant is aware, that is relevant to the eligibility for registration of the industrial design” (Article 4(2)). This provision encourages the idea of sovereign states controlling the quality of goods that they are culturally associated with, and is in line with the 1994 World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS Agreement), which established an international minimum standard for the protection of geographical indications. A GI is a sign which identifies a product as originating in a particular geographical area, such as Swiss watches and Mexican tequila.
- The treaty in Article 6 lays out requirements to establish the filing date of an industrial design application. Streamlining – but also limiting – the prerequisites for according a design application its filing date to only specifically listed indications, elements and requirements.
- Article 7 mandates Contracting Parties to provide a 12-month grace period. This allows applicants to file industrial design applications up to a year after an initial disclosure of their industrial design, without jeopardizing the applicant’s ability to register their industrial design. It creates a 12-month grace period for a design’s disclosure before an application’s filing date or its priority date without sacrificing the design’s validity.
- The treaty, in Article 10 creates a six-month post-filing date period for keeping design applications or registrations unpublished.
- Article 14 provides for more lenient time extensions for applicants who miss certain filing deadlines ; Rule 10).
- The Deferring to applicants in terms of how they represent their designs in their applications, including form, colour, shading, and unclaimed features (Rule 3);
- Permitting applications to include more than one design (Article 4(4); Article 9(1)); and
- Streamlining renewal procedures (Article 13; Rule 9).
- Article 14 provides that; “The representation of the industrial design shall, at the option of the applicant, be in the form of: (i) photographs; (ii) graphic reproductions; (iii) any other visual representation admitted by the Office; (iv) a combination of any of the above, where permitted under the applicable law.” It may also be in black and white, thereby making no restriction to the form of any design submission.
- Also:
- Enables inclusion of multiple designs in one application, under certain conditions .
- Provides relief measures—mechanisms to preserve rights when applicants miss a deadline .
- Lays guidelines for recording a change in ownership of rights.
- Streamlines and suggests an easier renewal procedure for design registrations
- Promotes e-filing systems and electronic exchange of priority documents (Article 11).
- Offers technical assistance to developing and least-developed countries for implementation.
- Article 26 creates an Assembly of Contracting States to amend the Regulations and deal with matters concerning the development of the Treaty.
Worthy of note is the fact that per Article 30, the Riyadh design Law Treaty have to be first domesticated and ratified by signatories – the treaty will only enter into force three months after at least 15 ratifications or accessions are deposited with WIPO and as of September, 2025, no country has yet ratified or acceded to the treaty. While it is well intentioned, only a handful of countries are signatory to the treaty and so far none of them have ratified locally. As such, it remains to be seen what effect the Treaty will have on the future of intellectual property protection.
