Glossary of Industrial Property Terms

Madrid Agreement and Madrid Protocol

The Madrid system for international registration of marks consists of two agreements. The Madrid Agreement of 1891 Concerning the International Registration of Marks (hereinafter referred to as "Agreement") and the Madrid Protocol of 1989 (hereinafter referred to as "Protocol") which entered into force on April 1, 1996. The Agreement and The Protocol are collateral, but independent of each other. (The unusual name of "Protocol" implies that both agreements have the same structure, so the sections - bearing the same number - set out the same issues.) Common Regulations shall be applied to all international application filed under both the Madrid Agreement and the Protocol. It enables the International Bureau of World Intellectual Organization to proceed with the cases whose applications were filed on the bases of both agreements.

The trademark owner, after having obtained the national protection of a trademark, has the possibility to obtain protection of the mark covering the Contracting States by simply filing one application with a single Office of any of the Contracting States, in one language, with one set of fees. It concerns the renewing procedure as well. The international registration offers a number of advantages for both the trademark owner and the national (regional) trademark offices. For the time being (April, 2007), the Agreement has 57, the Protocol has 72 Member States, among others Hungary.

International trademark information is available on the Romarin CD-ROM and in the Madrid Express online database.