Introduction On MADRID AGREEMENT CONCERNING THE INTERNATIONAL REGISTRATION OF MARKS (1891) AND THE PROTOCOL RELATING TO THAT AGREEMENT (1989) :

The system of international registration of marks is governed by two treaties:

The Madrid Agreement, concluded in 1891 and revised at Brussels (1900), Washington (1911), The Hague (1925), London (1934), Nice (1957), and Stockholm (1967), and amended in 1979, and the Protocol relating to that Agreement, which was concluded in 1989, with the aim of rendering the Madrid system more flexible and more compatible with the domestic legislation of certain countries which had not been able to accede to the Agreement.

The Madrid Agreement and Protocol are open to any State which is party to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property. The two treaties are parallel and independent and States may adhere to either of them or to both. In addition, an intergovernmental organization which maintains its own Office for the registration of marks may become party to the Protocol. Instruments of ratification or accession must be deposited with the Director General of WIPO. States and organizations which are party to the Madrid system are collectively referred to as Contracting Parties.

The system makes it possible to protect a mark in a large number of countries by obtaining an international registration which has effect in each of the Contracting Parties that has been designated.