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The Madrid Protocol

By Gary R. Duvall

The Madrid Protocol has established a relatively new international trademark registry in Geneva, Switzerland, managed by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Trademark applications can be filed in one office in one language for protection in many countries, rather than in the individual trademark offices and various languages of the desired countries. There are currently approximately 60 member countries that accept these applications.

The United States has agreed to join, and U.S. companies can actually file by about the first week in November 2003. (The House and Senate passed the accession to the Madrid Protocol in October 2002.) The next step is the promulgation of rules by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO), which could occur at any time. At last, the United States will join 60 countries, including all of the major economies of the world except Canada, Mexico and Brazil in a streamlined international trademark registration. Once the United States joins, these and other countries are expected to eventually join.

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