New Madrid Protocol Members: Canada and Brazil

Two new member states are accessing the Madrid Protocol for the international registration of marks. The Protocol will enter into force in Canada on 17 June 2019, and Brazil is expected to follow late in 2019.

After a long wait, Canada and Brazil are finally joining the Madrid Protocol for the international registration of marks. The treaty will enter into force for Canada on 17 June 2019. This is not the only big change in Canada’s trademark regime, since it will also become part of the Nice Agreement and the Singapore Treaty on the same day.

Brazil is expected to accede to the Madrid Protocol by the end of 2019. On 22 May 2019, the country’s Senate passed the bill in a vote. The country is able to join the Protocol after the Brazilian President, Jair Bolsonaro, has signed the Act.

The Madrid Protocol is a treaty administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). It provides trademark owners a possibility of having their trademarks protected in a large number of countries by filing a single application directly with a national or regional trademark office. The applicant must designate the members of the Madrid Protocol in which the trademark is to be protected. If protection is not refused by the trademark office of a designated contracting party, the international registration has the same effect as if it had been registered by that office.

In practice this means that Canada and Brazil can soon be named as designated countries in an international trademark application, instead of applying a registration separately in front of the national offices. The accession of Canada and Brazil to the Madrid Protocol is of great advantage as it makes the trademark registration process easier and more cost-effective for trademark owners.

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