International Trademark Registration
With effect from 08th of July 2013, you can finally file international trademark registration applications from India under the Madrid Protocol.
Any natural person or legal entity which has a real and effective industrial or commercial establishment in, or is domiciled in, or is a national of India and has got a registration of a trademark or an application in his name is pending for the registration of a trademark in India may make an application for the international registration of the trademark under the Madrid Protocol.
In other words, any person who has his commercial headquarters in India may file an application to get his trademark registered internationally in each country in which the registration is so desired, provided that the country in which registration is sought is a signatory to the Madrid Protocol, from India itself in a single application. Gone are the days when we had to find attorneys in the countries where we wished to get our trademarks registered.
With this new amendment in Law, the acquiring and protection of your invaluable intellectual property worldwide has finally become a reality with an added advantage that such applications are now finally within the budget of the Indian business owners.
Earlier, such registrations were acquired by filing individual applications in each country in which registration of trademark was required. Therefore, the applicant had to search for trademark attorneys in each country and pay them separately which was often quite expensive. Further, it was very difficult to find a trustworthy attorney in each country.
However, under the Madrid system, the applicant shall have to file a single application for all the countries in which registration is required from India only, thereby reducing the cost and hassles which were faced hereto.
If you are interested in protecting/registering your trademark internationally, it is strongly advised that you file your trademark registration application under the Madrid protocol as soon as possible and take advantage of the same.