Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property :

The Paris Union, established by the Convention, has an Assembly and an Executive Committee. Every State member of the Union which has adhered to at least the administrative and final provisions of the Stockholm Act (1967) is a member of the Assembly. The members of the Executive Committee are elected from among the members of the Union, except for Switzerland, which is a member ex officio.

The Paris Convention, concluded in 1883, was revised at Brussels in 1900, at Washington in 1911, at The Hague in 1925, at London in 1934, at Lisbon in 1958 and at Stockholm in 1967, and it was amended in 1979.

The Convention applies to industrial property in the widest sense, including patents, marks, industrial designs, utility models, trade names, geographical indications and the repression of unfair competition. The substantive provisions of the Convention may be divided into three main categories namely national treatment, right of priority, common rules.