The Federal Service for Intellectual Property (Rospatent) on behalf of the Russian Federation participated in the 20th session of the Working Group on the Legal Development of the Madrid System for the International Registration of Marks, held in Geneva (Switzerland) from 7 to 11 November 2022.

Key issues of the session focused on the technical feasibility of the gradual introduction of the Arabic, Chinese, and Russian languages into the Madrid System. The delegations of the Russian Federation, Belarus, China, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Algeria (on behalf of the African Group) and Indonesia (on behalf of the Asia and the Pacific Group) noted the importance of the initiative. Expansion of the language regime would enhance the Madrid System’s attractiveness for users and will increase the fillings since the possibility to use their national language will allow more trademark holders to file applications and manage their registrations.

The Working Group decided to increase interaction between interested Member States and WIPO through regular technical consultations on the expansion of the Terminology Database, the use of machine translation, the compilation of parallel corpora for lists of goods and services, as well as the standardization of the IP Offices’ decisions in a machine-readable format.

Furthermore, the Member States discussed the possible reduction of the dependency period between the basic (national) trademark and its international registration from 5 to 3 years. The Working Group recommended to the Madrid Union Assembly to adopt the proposed amendments to Rules 21, 23bis and 32 of the Regulations under the Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks.

The session also comprised the Roundtable, where the WIPO Secretariat presented the latest developments in the Madrid Registry, including the new IT Platform and operation of the eMadrid online tools. Representatives of WIPO, IP Offices and the private sector also exchanged information concerning the Madrid System promotion, ongoing activities, plans for further development and challenges faced by the users.

Background information:

The International System for the International Registration of Marks (Madrid System) is a convenient and cost-effective solution for registering and managing trademarks worldwide. File a single application and pay one set of fees to apply for protection in up to 128 countries, while the centralized system allows making modifications, renewing or expanding the geographical coverage of the global trademark portfolio.

The previous decade had witnessed a record number of international applications under the Madrid System. This number is constantly increasing every year.