By Charters Macdonald Brown, Simon Chalkley, John Reddington
gossIP
US Senate Ratifies Madrid Protocol
In October 2002, the United States Senate ratified the Madrid Protocol. This
is a system administered by the World Intellectual Property Organisation whereby
national trade mark registrations can be obtained in many different countries by
filing a single application. Once the implementing legislation is in place
(which should take about a year) it will be possible to obtain a US trade mark
registration this way, and US applicants will be able to obtain overseas trade
mark registrations using this system. Generally, the Madrid Protocol system is a
simple and cost-effective way of securing international trade mark protection
and is well worth considering whenever filing an overseas trade mark
application. Another advantage is that additional countries can be added to the
registration at any time.
