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Madrid Trademark Filing
Online IPR Services

India is a signatory to Madrid Convention. Hence, Trademark applications may be filed to member countries through the Indian Trademark Office. We help register and renew trademarks filed under the Madrid Protocol.

International Trademark Filing

The law of Trademark passed by the Indian government is applicable and have force only within the Territory of India, thus, the Trademark registered in India shall have effect only within India, in order to obtain protection of trademark in other foreign countries the same need to be registered under law of that country. Every country has its own trademark law prescribing regulations for registration of trademark in that country. In other words, if a person wishes to obtain trademark registration in any particular country then a separate application has to be moved in all such foreign countries. In the year 2013, Indian government acceded to the Madrid convention which prescribes a methodology of filing international application to the contracting parties from India through the office of the Registrar of Trademark.

Methods by which an International Application can be filed

International application in each foreign country: To seek protection in any country directly, an International application must be filed directly to the Trademark office of the foreign country by following the laws and regulations of that country. For this purpose the applicant must hire local law firm which is practicing in trademark in that foreign country. In practice the applications to countries which is not party to the Madrid system can be filed as per above. We provide our services in engaging an Attorney in the foreign countries work closely for registration of trademark in the foreign country.

International application under Madrid system: The trademark registration can be initiated by filing an International application under Madrid protocol before the Registrar of Trademark for specific countries. The Indian Trademark office collects International Trademark application and after finding it in conformity with the Madrid protocol transmits such an International application to the WIPO, which further transmit it to the concern foreign countries. Each International application is processed by the foreign country as per their law and all communications are routed through Indian Government.

Basic understanding for International TM Registration under Madrid system

Under the Madrid protocol a mark can be protected in many jurisdiction by filing an application for International registration. Such application is presented to the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) at Geneva through the office of origin for example if applicant is from India then office of origin shall mean to be the Registrar of Trademark in India. The Madrid system of filing trademark provides one single procedure for registration of trademark in several territories. The immediate advantages of Madrid system are as under:
International TM Registration under Madrid system
Only one International application is required to be filed to register a trademark in one or many foreign territories, provided there are parties to the Madrid convention. (There are 98 countries who have signed and ratified the Madrid convention)
The application can be filed in any one language out of English, French or Spanish irrespective of the language of contracting party. The Government filing fees for each foreign country shall be paid in India and in one currency only i.e. Swiss Franc (CHF). All the applications filed under Madrid convention shall be allotted only one registration number valid in all territories and it shall also have only one renewal date. The registration obtained under Madrid system can be further extended geographically and any changes may also be recorded through one single procedure affecting registration across foreign territories.
The International application under Madrid protocol may be filed based on either a mark that has already got registered in India or which has been applied for registration. It means to file an International application first a local registration of trademark be obtained or applied for. The International application can be filed only in respect of goods or services for which the local registration in respect to a trademark has been obtained or applied.
The International application can be filed for the countries or group of countries which are parties to the Madrid protocol and have further ratified the same. A list of 98 countries, who are parties to the Madrid convention can be obtained from us. However, it may be interestingly, noted that countries like Nepal Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar,Malaysia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Iraq, Kuwait, Mauritius, Saudi Arab, Taiwan, Thailand, Canada etc. are not part of Madrid protocol, it means if a person from India want to get registration of trademark in above mentioned countries then separate application has to be moved with the help of local Attorneys.