Treaty of Madrid (1891)

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The Madrid Agreement concerning the International Registration of Marks is, among other things, the first treaty to give France legal protection of the word champagne.

[edit] The Madrid Agreement

The Madrid Agreement concerning the International Registration of Marks (1891) is a special treaty designed to ease the acquisition of trademark rights in various countries. After an initial registration in his own country, an applicant for a trademark can make a so-called international registration at the International Bureau (IB) of the WIPO in Geneva, indicating the member countries in which he would like to have trademark protection. The IB then makes the registration and passes it on to all the designated member countries of the Madrid Agreement. These then have one year in which to refuse the registration in their country.

The registrations that are a result of the international registration can be annulled if the original national registration is refused, annulled or dropped in the first five year after the first registration date. An annulment resulting from a legal action started after the original registration is more than 5 years old cannot affect the international registration. So, if you want to get rid of an international mark established under the Madrid Agreement, you should try to get the original national registration annulled by starting a legal procedure to that end within five years after the first registration. This is known as a central attack on the international registration.