A non-European view of the Madrid Protocol (Part 1)

• Published in: Managing intellectual property 1995-10 (53), p.26
• Main Author: Kaufman, Ian Jay
• Format: Magazinearticle
• Language: English
• Subjects: Agreements; Fees & charges; Intellectual property; Licensing; Protocol; Provisions; Registration; Trade agreements; Trademarks; Treaties
• ISSN: 0960-5002

The Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks (Agreement) became effective on July 13, 1892, and is a special arrangement within the scope of Article 19 of the Paris Convention. It provides for the possibility of obtaining protection of a trade mark in several jurisdictions by a single registration called the international registration. The objectives of the 1989 Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks were to make the Madrid system more attractive to more countries. In order to adhere to the Protocol, many countries have had to modify, or will be required to modify, their trademark laws. The Chinese have just ratified the Protocol. But, Hong Kong has no desire to join. Most South American countries by and large remain very skeptical about adhering. Amendments to US trade mark law have been proposed to facilitate the Protocol, and a bill for adherence of the US to the Protocol was introduced in the last Congress.