The Madrid System includes the Madrid Protocol and the Madrid Agreement, it is an administrative center for trademark registrations enabling a trademark holder to extend their application to other countries, however, the system itself is slightly more complicated:
Trademark applicants still need to meet certain requirements that enable them to apply for this kind of protection. An application for international registration may be filed only by a natural person or a legal entity which has a real and effective industrial or commercial establishment in, or is domiciled in, or is a national of, a country which is a party to the Madrid Agreement or the Madrid Protocol, or who has such an establishment in, or is domiciled in, the territory of an intergovernmental organization which is a party to the Protocol, or is a national of a Member State of such an organization.
For example, if you have a domicile in the USA, you would register your trademark here and then extend it through this office to the desired country. Or if you are a national of another country, the same scheme would apply. “Country in which the trademark that you wish to extent is registered” refers to your base country or domicile as mentioned above.
If you want to extend a trademark to other members of the Madrid System, then we must submit the request to WIPO through the Office of origin of the trademark. Every country where you want to expand will have to examine the trademark and can accept or reject it. Once the mark has been accepted by member countries, WIPO publishes, records, and notifies the designated parties and sends the certificate. The whole process of examination, objections, and oppositions is done by each trademark office individually. From the date of the registration or recordal, the protection of the mark in each of the Contracting Parties concerned shall be the same as if the mark had been deposited directly with the Office of that Contracting Party. If no refusal has been notified to the International Bureau or if a refusal notified has been withdrawn subsequently, the protection of the mark in the Contracting Party concerned shall, as from the said date, be the same as if the mark had been registered by the Office of that Contracting Party.
Note that if the trademark office objects to your application, or a third party files an opposition, the base country attorney will still need to hire a local attorney as they are not allowed to respond to the trademark office. If you already have submitted a WIPO registration and need an attorney to respond to an objection or opposition please fill out the contact form below.
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