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The Madrid Agreement provides for an international system
of registration of trademarks.
A parallel system to the Madrid Agreement (the Madrid Protocol)
was established in 1989 to deal with certain difficulties of the
Madrid Agreement and to counter its low number of accessions. Ireland
became a member of the Madrid Protocol (from October 19, 2001) and
as with the UK is not a member of the Madrid Agreement. The UK joined
the Protocol system on 1 December 1995.
The Madrid Protocol allows Irish trade mark holders make an "international
application" through the World Intellectual Property Organisation
(WIPO) whereby through a single application, a mark can obtain protection
in several countries, as though they were national applications
in those countries.
Before an application can be made through the Protocol system,
the mark must be either registered or applied for in a country of
the system. This is sometimes referred to as the "national
basis" of the application.
One feature of the Madrid Protocol is that "intergovernmental
organisations" with their own regional trademark systems could
become parties to the Protocol. Agreement has now been reached between
the EU and WIPO to allow the Community Trade Mark (CTM) system adhere
to the Madrid Protocol. This will mean that holders of CTM applications
or registrations can now apply for an international application
for that mark through the Madrid Protocol and use that mark as the
"national basis" for the application. The Council of Ministers
now must formally approve the proposals and after which the EU may
deposit its instrument of ratification to the Madrid Protocol.
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