Iran Joins All International Intellectual Property Classification Agreements

WANA (Nov 11) – The Permanent Mission of Iran to the United Nations Office in Geneva announced that Iran has officially become a member of all international agreements related to intellectual property (IP) classification.

According to the statement, Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations, Ali Bahreini, met with Daren Tang, Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), to formally present Iran’s instruments of accession and ratification for the Vienna and Strasbourg Agreements on the classification of intellectual property.

In a message posted on X (formerly Twitter), Iran’s UN Mission in Geneva stated: “With this move, the Islamic Republic of Iran has now joined all international treaties concerning the classification of intellectual property.”

During the meeting, both sides highlighted the vital role of intellectual property in national and global development and reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening bilateral cooperation in this field.

Ambassador Bahreini underscored the importance of intellectual property in advancing national development goals and noted Iran’s progress in IP legislation, enforcement, and protection.

WIPO Director General Daren Tang also praised the positive trajectory of cooperation between WIPO and Iran and emphasized the organization’s readiness to further enhance these ties.

The Strasbourg Agreement, adopted in 1971, established the International Patent Classification (IPC) system — a global framework that categorizes inventions into eight sections and approximately 80,000 subdivisions. This standardized classification facilitates patent examination, retrieval, and research for inventors, national and regional patent offices, and R&D sectors.

The Vienna Agreement, concluded in 1973 and amended in 1985, created the International Classification of the Figurative Elements of Marks, providing a standard system for categorizing visual elements such as images, logos, and designs used in trademarks. This system simplifies the examination and search of trademarks based on their visual characteristics and reduces complexity across national classification systems.

Both agreements, administered by WIPO, aim to harmonize international standards for the classification of patents and trademarks — thereby strengthening global cooperation, streamlining document searches, and accelerating the registration and examination of IP applications.

Iran Joins All International Intellectual Property Classification Agreements. Social media/ WANA News Agency