Common Rules :
The Convention lays down a few common rules which all the contracting States must follow. The more important are the following:
Patents
1. Patents granted in different contracting States for the same invention are independent of each other.
2. The granting of a patent in one contracting State does not oblige the other contracting States to grant a patent.
3. A patent cannot be refused, annulled or terminated in any contracting State on the ground that it has been refused or annulled or has terminated in any other contracting State.
4. The inventor has the right to be named as such in the patent.
5. The grant of a patent may not be refused, and a patent may not be invalidated, on the ground that the sale of the patented product, or of a product obtained by means of the patented process, is subject to restrictions or limitations resulting from the domestic law.
6. Each contracting State that takes legislative measures providing for the grant of compulsory licenses to prevent the abuses which might result from the exclusive rights conferred by a patent may do so only with certain limitations. Thus, a compulsory license based on failure to work the patented invention may only be granted pursuant to a request filed after three or four years of failure to work or insufficient working of the patented invention and it must be refused if the patentee gives legitimate reasons to justify his inaction.
7. Forfeiture of a patent may not be provided for, except in cases where the grant of a compulsory license would not have been sufficient to prevent the abuse. In the latter case, proceedings for forfeiture of a patent may be instituted, but only after the expiration of two years from the grant of the first compulsory license.
Marks
(1) The Paris Convention does not regulate the conditions for the filing and registration of marks which are therefore determined in each contracting State by the domestic law. Consequently, no application for the registration of a mark filed by a national of a contracting State may be refused, nor may a registration be invalidated, on the ground that filing, registration or renewal has not been affected in the country of origin. Once the registration of a mark is obtained in a contracting State, it is independent of its possible registration in any other country, including the country of origin; consequently.
(2) The lapse or annulment of the registration of a mark in one contracting State does not affect the validity of registration in other contracting States.
(3) Where a mark has been duly registered in the country of origin, it must, on request, be accepted for filing and protected in its original form in the other contracting States.
(4) The registration may be refused in well-defined cases, such as when the mark would infringe acquired rights of third parties, when it is devoid of distinctive character, when it is contrary to morality or public order, or when it is of such a nature as to be liable to deceive the public.
(5) If, in any contracting State, the use of a registered mark is compulsory, the registration cannot be canceled until after a reasonable period, and only if the owner cannot justify his inaction.
(6) Each contracting State must refuse registration and prohibit the use of marks which constitute a reproduction, imitation or translation, liable to create confusion, of a mark considered by the competent authority of that State to be well known in that State as being already the mark of a person entitled to the benefits of the Convention and used for identical or similar goods.
(7) Each contracting State must likewise refuse registration and prohibit the use of marks which consist of or contain without authorization, armorial bearings, State emblems and official signs and hallmarks of contracting states, provided they have been communicated through the International Bureau of WIPO.
(8) The same provisions apply to armorial bearings, flags, other emblems, abbreviations and names of certain inter-governmental organizations.
(9) Collective marks must be granted protection.