Madrid system
Fees for registering Madrid system trademarks
First class：
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Additional class：
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Renewal:
Service Process
Trademark registration time
Madrid International Trademark Registration refers to the process by which an applicant applies for trademark registration abroad. In addition to applying for registration separately with the trademark authorities of each country, the applicant can also register trademarks between member states of the Madrid Union in accordance with the provisions of the Madrid Agreement or Madrid Protocol. What we usually refer to as international trademark registration is the Madrid International Trademark Registration.
The international registration of Madrid trademarks is uniformly managed by the trademark authorities of each Madrid Union contracting party and the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization.
member state
As of May 2021, the Madrid Union has a total of 108 contracting parties. Among them, there are 53 parties to the Madrid Protocol (note: Boneher Saint Eustatius and Saba Islands, Curacao, Saint Martin and Guernsey are not independent parties, but overseas dependencies of independent countries, but can be designated separately): Afghanistan, Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Bahrain, Brunei, Boneher Saint Eustatius and Saba Islands, Brazil, Botswana, Canada, Colombia, Curacao, Denmark, Estonia, EU, Finland, Britain, Georgia, Guernsey, Ghana, Gambia, Greece, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, India, Iceland, Japan, Cambodia, South Korea Laos, Lithuania, Madagascar, Malawi, Mexico, Malaysia, Norway, New Zealand, the African Intellectual Property Organization, Oman, the Philippines Pakistan, Rwanda, Sweden, Singapore, Sao Tome and Principe, Saint Martin, Syria, Thailand, Turkmenistan, Tunisia, Türkiye, Trinidad and Tobago, the United States, Uzbekistan, Samoa, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
There are 55 parties to both the Madrid Agreement and the Madrid Protocol, including Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands: China, Albania, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Bhutan, the Netherlands, Belarus, Switzerland, Cuba, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Germany, Algeria, Egypt, Spain, France, Croatia, Hungary, Iran, Italy, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, North Korea, Kazakhstan, Liechtenstein, Liberia, Lesotho, Latvia, Morocco, Monaco, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Mongolia, Mozambique, Namibia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, the Russian Federation, Sudan Slovenia, Svetyik, Kerala Leon, San Marino, Eswatini, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Vietnam.
Trademark Registration Process
1. Application requirements
(1) The applicant is a citizen of China, has a domicile in China, or has a genuine and valid place of business.
(2) For trademarks that have been previously applied for or registered in China, namely basic applications or basic registrations (accepted or registered), the data in the Trademark Office system shall prevail.
2. Processing methods
(1) Entrust a nationally recognized trademark agency to handle it.
(2) The applicant shall submit the application to the Trademark Office on their own.
3. Requirements
(1) The applicant's name, address, and trademark design must be consistent with the basic application/registration.
(2) Goods/services are within or equal to the scope of the basic application/registration (cannot exceed).
4. Required materials
(1) Madrid trademark international registration in Chinese and English formats.
(2) Applicant's qualification documents, such as a copy of the business license, a copy of the residence certificate, a copy of the ID card, etc.
(3) The original/photocopy of the power of attorney, which needs to be signed and stamped (depending on the submission method).
(4) Trademark design.
(5) Please specify the United States and submit the MM18 form together.
5. Madrid Trademark Application Process
The applicant/agency shall submit an application to the Chinese Trademark Office for acceptance (issuance of acceptance), the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization for acceptance (issuance of international registration certificate, announcement), the designated national competent authority for examination, an announcement (some countries no longer publish separately), and the issuance of an approval protection notice.
At present, there are two ways to submit the Madrid international registration application, one is to submit an electronic application on the China National Intellectual Property Administration China Trademark Network, and the other is to submit a paper-based application at the window. If everything goes smoothly, online applications for Madrid international registration will receive an "International Registration Certificate" within 4-6 months from the date of submission, while paper-based applications will receive an "International Registration Certificate" within 6-10 months from the date of submission (the "International Registration Certificate" indicates that the Madrid application has been registered in the International Register and does not mean that it has been successfully registered in the designated contracting parties). From the date of notification, each designated country shall review and decide whether to approve protection within 12-18 months.
6. Validity period
It is valid for 10 years from the date of international registration, and can be renewed 6 months in advance with a grace period of 6 months. Each renewal is valid for 10 years.
7. Precautions
(1) Applicants from Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions cannot apply for Madrid applications through the Trademark Office, while applicants from Taiwan, China, China can apply for Madrid applications through the Trademark Office.
(2) Israel and Syria cannot be designated simultaneously, otherwise Syria will be rejected due to the Israel issue (political, religious issues).
(3) If the basic application/registration is being transferred or changed, the application can only be submitted in the name/address of the assignee or the changed name/address after submitting the transfer/change application domestically.
(4) According to the Notice of the Trademark Office of the former State Administration for Industry and Commerce on Simplifying the Materials and Procedures for Madrid International Trademark Registration Applications, starting from August 23, 2017, the following materials may no longer be submitted when submitting Madrid applications:
A. Copy of domestic trademark registration certificate or acceptance notice;
B. If the trademark registered or applied for has undergone subsequent business such as changes, transfers, or renewals in China, there is no need to submit a copy of the approval certificate;
C. If the applicant uses an English name, there is no need to submit an English name certificate again.
Trademark registration materials
advantage
Easy procedure: By submitting only one application, it is possible to request registration protection in multiple countries.
Low cost: If registered successfully, the international registration fee is much lower than the cost of registering separately in each country.
Time expectation determination: From the international notification date, if the designated country does not issue a rejection notice to the International Bureau within the prescribed period (12 months according to the Madrid Agreement and 18 months according to the Madrid Protocol), in most cases, the trademark will be automatically protected in that designated country (some countries may reject based on objections later than 18 months).
Easy to manage: one application for an international registration number and one expiration date. For subsequent changes, transfers, renewals, deletions, and cancellations, only one application needs to be submitted and one fee needs to be paid. It is also possible to expand the scope of territorial protection through "later designation" without changing the international trademark registration number (i.e. the number of trademarks).
shortcoming
Limitations of registered countries: Although the Madrid Union has expanded to 108 member countries, some countries in South America, the Middle East, and other regions are currently not member countries and cannot obtain trademark registration in these countries through the Madrid International Registration channel.
The requirement is based on the registration of trademarks within the park, and international registration must be based on the registration of trademarks within the park, with designated protected goods/services not exceeding the scope of domestic registration.
There is no unified registration certificate: after passing the formal examination of the International Bureau, an international registration certificate (also known as an international annotation certificate) is issued; however, at this stage, the trademark has not yet been authorized by the competent authorities of the designated protecting countries, so it cannot be equivalent to the commonly referred to registration certificate, and its effectiveness is only equivalent to a "notice of acceptance"; at the same time, due to its simple layout design and lack of official seal, and with the popularity of WIIPO electronic documents, it is often easy for applicants to mistakenly believe that it is not an official document.
Diversity of examination criteria leading to rejection: Due to the requirement of domestic application/registration basis for Madrid applications, the applicant's international application based on domestically accepted or registered trademarks may be rejected due to the diversity of examination criteria in designated protection countries, such as inconsistent requirements for product description, inconsistent requirements for trademark description (mainly for trademarks containing Chinese characters), inconsistent criteria for approximate judgment, etc.
The instability of registration rights: Due to the requirement for international registration to be based on domestic application/registration, it takes 5 years to decouple from the registration in the country of origin. Therefore, once the registration in the country of origin is revoked within 5 years, the international registration will also be revoked. This situation is also known as the "center strike principle"; However, from practical experience, the proportion of international registrations that have failed due to the principle of "center strike" is relatively low.
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