Minister for
Commerce and Industry, Mr. Anand Sharma submitted India's instrument of accession to
the Madrid
Protocol for the International Registration of Marks at the World
Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). MR. Sharma is attending a High Level
Policy Dialogue on "Innovation and Development: The Indian
Experience" at the WIPO. The treaty will come into force with respect
to India
from July 8, 2013.
The main attraction of the Madrid System is that it offers a trademark owner the opportunity of having his trademark protected in all the member countries of the Madrid system through a single application in a single language with a single set of fees. As a result of India joining the Madrid System, trademark owners can get their trademarks protected in the Indian market as well as in the markets of the eighty nine other member countries through a single application. This step therefore, makes it much easier for trademark owners to get protection for their trademarks in India by significantly reducing the paperwork and currency involved. The same benefit is also available for Indian companies who want their trademarks protected in the other 89 member countries of the Madrid System.
The Madrid System
also allows trademark owners the benefit of online tools which can be used to
find existing trademarks, estimate the filing costs and to make electronic
payments for the same, check registration status etc. This makes the task of
subsequent management of the trademark much easier as well as registration can
be renewed online and subsequent changes can be recorded etc through a single
procedural step.
These benefits have
resulted in the Madrid System becoming attractive for large businesses as well
as SME's. While there has generally been a strong growth
in demand for IPR's in 2012, there has been a 4.1% increase in
the number of trademark applications filed under the Madrid system in particular in 2012 as
compared to 2011. In fact there were 44,018 applications filed in 2012 which
was the highest
number of applications filed under the Madrid system till date.
On the whole,
India's membership in the Madrid System appears to be a welcome step for
foreign companies who wish to register their trademarks in India as well as for
Indian companies who can get registration for their trademarks in any or all of
the member countries of the Madrid system, according to their business needs
through a cost-effective, time-friendly, comparatively hassle-free step.
ü The Madrid
system (officially the Madrid
system for the international registration of marks) is the primary
international system for facilitating the registration of trademarks in
multiple jurisdictions around the world.
ü Its legal basis is the multilateral
treaty Madrid
Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks of 1891, as well
as the Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement (1989).
ü The Madrid system provides a centrally
administered system of obtaining a bundle of trademark registrations in
separate jurisdictions.
ü Registration through the Madrid system does not
create an ‘international’ registration, as in the case of the European
Community Trade Mark system; rather, it creates a bundle of national rights
able to be administered centrally.
ü Madrid provides a mechanism for obtaining
trademark protection in many countries around the world which is more effective
than seeking protection separately in each individual country or jurisdiction
of interest.
ü Madrid now permits the filing,
registration and maintenance of trade mark rights in more than one
jurisdiction, provided that the target jurisdiction is a party to the system.
ü The Madrid
system is administered by the International Bureau of the World Intellectual
Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva,
Switzerland.
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