Notes on Registering a Madrid Trademark

      An application for the international registration of a trademark in Madrid is a trademark registration between the member states of the Madrid Union in accordance with the provisions of the Madrid Agreement for the International Registration of Marks or the Protocol Relevant to the Madrid Agreement for the International Registration of Marks, which is different from country to country. At present, there are a total of 100 parties to the Madrid System, covering 116 countries around the world. Chinese enterprises can apply for international trademark registration through the Trademark Office in accordance with the Madrid Agreement on International Trademark Registration, and apply for protection in one country, multiple countries or all member states according to their own needs.

      Some precautions to pay attention to when registering a Madrid trademark, please refer to the following:

      1. Limitations of the country of registration

      The member states of the Madrid Union are more focused on European countries, and some countries with close trade ties with my country, such as the United States, Canada and Southeast Asian countries, are not yet member states. Chinese enterprises cannot obtain trademark registration in these countries through Madrid International Registration.

      2. Requirements are based on domestic application/registration

      International registrations must be based on domestic trademark applications/registrations. Under the Madrid Agreement, the application must be based on the national registration of the same mark or the publication of the preliminary application; under the Madrid Protocol, the application must be based on the national registration application of the same mark, so there is a certain timing of the application. limit.

      3. Instability of registration effectiveness

      Since the international registration requirement is based on domestic application/registration and can be decoupled from the registration in the country of origin after five years, once the registration in the country of origin is cancelled within five years, the international registration will also be cancelled, which is also known as This is called the "Central Strike Principle". Therefore, there is only one registration number to register a Madrid trademark, and the time limit is very slow. If the cycle is fast, it will take 2-3 years before the certificate is issued.                         

      4. The Madrid trademark is not accepted for filing on Amazon

      There are many disadvantages to using the Madrid trademark. The Madrid trademark is not accepted for filing on Amazon. Many smaller institutions are not qualified to directly help their clients to apply for a trademark in a single country, so they tell clients that it is better to go to Madrid. If there are many registered countries, dozens of countries can go to Madrid for registration, but generally those companies that do traditional trade will go.      

      5. Registered Madrid trademark for Amazon customers

      It is generally recommended to be an Amazon customer : if you register in several countries, just apply for a single country.

      To sum up professional advice : if it is an Amazon customer, it is best to register the EU trademark, which can protect 28 countries of the European Union; if it is a traditional trade customer, you can choose the Madrid trademark if necessary.