| Madrid Trademark Application | |
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| Basic Background |
| There are two methods to apply oversea trademark: First, registry in different countries one by one, that means to register in each departments of different countries. Second, is to register Madrid International Trademark, this registration is supported by “Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks”, also known as “Madrid Agreement” and “Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks”, also known as “Madrid Protocol”. All members of the Madrid Protocol and Madrid Agreement are known as members of Madrid Union. |
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| Advantage |
| Madrid Union already have more than 70 members including most Western developed countries (Canada is not a member of Madrid Union). With one simple application, you can register your trademark in few members’ counties, this save the time cost registering your trademark in different countries one by one. Also the registration fee can be paid once in total rather than paying to different countries one by one. This save the foreign exchange cost and bank service cost. |
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| Fee List |
Madrid trademark registration fee can be divided into three parts:
- Basic fee
- Fee for specified counties
- Standard fee for local trademark registration department
Applicant can register in multi countries in same application, no matter how many countries your application included, the basic fee is still the same, so the more countries you register the lower average cost you enjoy. |
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| Registration management |
| Each International trademark can only have one registry certificate, which certificate has their number. With this number, applicant can check the registration process via http://www.wipo.int/portal/index.html. However if you register your trademark in different countries one by one you will have many different certificate and number, it will increase your management cost and time. |
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| Registration Time |
| Applicant should receive their International trademark registration certificate within 6 months from WIPO, it includes certificate number and registration date. This certificate is just a formal proof for receiving the applicant registration application and the document provided met the requirements, and the application had already been sent to specific for further registration procedure. The approval of the trademark will then depend on each country local judgment. Starting from the International trademark registration date if the applicant does not receive rejection announcement with specified period, they will automatically trademark protection, for Agreement members the period is 12 months, and for Protocol members the period is 18 months. This helps to shorten the empty period when applicant does not have their trademark being protected. For examples, it normally take 3 to 4 years to gain an Italian trademark registration, with the help of Madrid the period to gain trademark can be shortened to around 20 months. |
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| Application method |
| We, HKBSS, can help you to apply the international trademark |
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| Registration procedure |
| Assigning us as your international trademark registration agency > we will submit the application to international trademark registration office > submit fee for the registration |
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Required documents
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| （1）Fill in the Chinese application form and seal with company chop |
| （2）Fill in the English application form and seal with company chop |
| （3）Applicant identity proof 2 set |
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If applicant is corporate please submit Company registration certificate and business license |
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If applicant is individual please submit ID card or passport copy |
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Please also prepare existing trademark certificate or confirmation letter proof for trademark registration |
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| （4）2 set trademark sample, if the logo is colored please send a colored copy. |
| （5）Please also prepare an agency agreement to assign us as your trademark registration agent. |
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Collecting Trademark registration certificate |
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Once the application is received, the international trademark office will record them and send a confirmation certificate to the applicant. The applicant will firstly send to the local trademark office then the local trademark office will send to the applicant corresponding address, so please inform the trademark office if you change your corresponding address. |
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Post registry issue |
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According to the Agreement and Protocol, trademark owners are allowed to do the following:
1、Increase the registration country for all or part of their trademark covered product or service
2、Transfer the ownership right for all or part of their trademark covered product, service and location
3、Deregister the international trademark
4、Giving up the trademark protection
5、Reduce or cancel the registered product or service classes
6、Changing the ownership corresponding detail, such as name, address, etc.
To do the above is more or less the same as the trademark application, and fee will be charged for the above. |
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| Important Notes |
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Applicant must be a legal entity. Applicant should have a physical office, if not they have to at least have a residential address. Without a residential address the applicant must have the local nationality. If applicant does not have “Madrid Union” nationality, they can use corporate applicant identity for the registration. |
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Applicant must already get their local trademark registration done or on process. For Madrid Agreement member countries, they only accept applicant who already passed the local trademark registration. For Madrid Protocol members, they accept applicant who get their trademark registering in their local country. |
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The application detail must be same as the local one. The trademark ownership detail, the owner’s name and address. The trademark appearance must be the same as the local one. The registration class should be the same, if the international trademark want to get extra cover than the local one, the applicant must listed out which class(es) are the extra coverage. |
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If applicant proves that they apply international trademark within 6 month after they apply the local trademark, they will have higher priority to the others. |
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Any application fail to meet the minimum requirements of the Madrid system, the application will be dismissed. |
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International trademark needs to be renewal as they have their only limited period. |
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English application form download link is http://www.wipo.int/madrid/en/index.html
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