שטוטאקוי, אתר מאמרים אישי

The Madrid Convention and the Protocol are open to any State party to the Paris Agreement on the Protection of Industrial Property (1883). The two treaties are parallel and independent and states can comply with one or the other. In addition, an intergovernmental organization with its own trademark registry office may become a party to the protocol. The instruments of ratification or accession are to be filed with the Director General of WIPO. In the run-up to the establishment of a multi-judicial (or at least pan-European) Community brand, the relevance of the Madrid system has been tested. Pressure on WIPO to maintain its relevance and strengthens the agreement by increasing the number of members, possibly through amendments. This culminated in the introduction of the Madrid Protocol, which stated that a Community trademark could be a “foundation registration” or “original registration”, on which an international registration could then be made. This mechanism is called “interconnection determination.” The protocol was signed as a result of significant WIPO lobbying efforts by many countries, including most of the current members of the Madrid Agreement, and by some European Union member countries, but which were not members of the Madrid Agreement. The protocol came into force on December 1, 1995 and came into force on April 1, 1996. Protection may be limited to some or all goods or services or may only be abandoned for some of the designated parts. An international registration may be transferred to all or some of the designated contracting parties and all or part of the reported products or services. The system allows the protection of a trademark in a large number of countries by obtaining an international registration that takes effect in each of the designated parts. The filing of an international application is subject to the payment of a basic tax (reduced to 10% of the amount required for international applications filed by applicants whose country of origin is a LDC, in accordance with the list established by the United Nations), an additional tax for each category of goods and/or services beyond the first three classes and an additional tax for each designated party.

However, a party to the protocol may declare that, under the protocol, the additional tax is replaced by an individual tax, the amount of which is set by the party concerned, but cannot be greater than the amount to be paid for registering a trademark at the national level at its headquarters. However, if the designated contracting parties verify compliance with their national legislation and certain substantive provisions are not respected, they have the right to refuse protection on their territory. Any such refusal, including the indication of the reasons on which it is based, must normally be notified to the International Office within 12 months of the date of notification. However, a party to the protocol may declare that this period is extended to 18 months for the protocol determination. This party may also declare that an opposition response can be forwarded to the International Office after the 18-month period.