Trademark Registration
A trademark can be any word, phrase, symbol, design, or a combination of these things that identifies your goods or services. It’s how customers recognize you in the marketplace and distinguish you from your competitors. Registering a trademark gives the owner right to use the sign.
Benefits of trademark registration
A trademark adds great value to a business. By filing for trademark registration, the trademark owner obtains certain rights, including
(i) ownership of a certain trademark
(ii) the right to prevent others from using a similar mark without permission.
The owner of the registered trademark can exploit his/ her mark in many ways, including
(i) use it to better protect their market share by barring others from copying it
(ii) license it to third parties for commercial returns (e.g. through a franchise)
(iii) sell the mark outright for a specified value (e.g. in a company acquisition or asset sale).
International trademark registration
The Madrid Protocol provides a system of international registration of trademarks. It is administered by the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) in Geneva, Switzerland.
The purpose of this protocol is to eliminate the time it would take to submit a trademark application across individual jurisdictions. The Madrid Protocol allows a trademark owner to seek protection for their trademark in several jurisdictions simultaneously by filing one application in one currency, i.e. Swiss franc.
Benefits of trademark registration via the Madrid Protocol
1. Convenience of filing one application at one location and one fee to apply for protection in up to 128 countries. This saves time and money from not having to contact various jurisdictions around the world.
2. Should the applicant need to make subsequent changes to the trademark registration etc, such change can be made easily with single fee.
Changes and renewal of trademark registration via the Madrid Protocol
Following the trademark registration, the name and address of the holder can be changed upon request.
The international registration via the Madrid Protocol is effective for 10 years following the payment of the fees required under the International Bureau. Six months before the end of every period, the Bureau will send a reminder, notifying the trademark holder. The registration can be renewed for additional period of up to 10 years.