Facts On The Madrid System For The International Registration Of Marks

By Young Lindsay


The Madrid System is the main international system for the facilitation of trademarks and for its application within a number of jurisdictions in various nations. The legal basis it has is a multilateral treaty which is The Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks in 1891. It also includes The Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement in 1989.

Also, this is administered in a central manner where the rights of the trademarks are formed into bundles for them to be acquired through separate jurisdictions. This is officially called as the Madrid System for the International Registration of Marks. Although this would not cater to a registration as a whole international, but it only gives it in bundles. This is in contrast with the European Community Trade Mark.

The clear advantage for this one is that the protection would be applied on different countries instead of having the rights acquired for each nation or jurisdiction. Since it is in bundles, it can cover a number of countries with only one time registration, which gives it the flexibility of wide range of rights for the trademark. This would give the owner an opportunity to save up in costs.

The filing for this trademark is valid only to those countries and nations that are within the party. This is administered by the International Bureau of the World of Intellectual Property Organization or also known as WIPO which is in Switzerland. In total, there would be ninety countries that belong to that party completely.

The treaties that were mentioned is the total composition of the system. It was on April 1996 when the operation started and this was in a conference held in Madrid, Spain. The original purpose for this was to cover all the countries and gain range internationally, but then there were a few reasons why this was not able to push through completely.

There was a lack of recognition by large nations which defiantly made the system unsuccessful to run internationally. The countries that did not accept this treaty includes the United Kingdom, the United States and also Central America, as well as South American countries, and also Japan. These countries actually have the most numbers of filings and registrations for trademarks. Another would be because of the forwarding process by the International Bureau instead of the actual registration.

The advantage in registering for this is that the mechanism provides trademarks to have a jurisdiction obtained from WIPO. This can also be extended to one or few more members which is called a designation. Basically, it gives convenience for trademarks owners like in Crystal Lake, IL to add more coverage for the trademark in one single filing.

But in cases where there is any refusal, withdrawal, or cancellation of the basic application within five years from the registration date, there would be a same effect of it internationally. Basically, if any or two parts in a rights is removed, then it would also be removed in the jurisdiction internationally. This is also the same if it is then removed completely.

This approach is convenient for any owner of trademarks who wish to get rights in a different country and gain jurisdiction there for their products or services. It is actually convenient and can be done in just one single filing of the registration instead of doing it per country. The system makes the process to be accessible and simple.




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