WIPO Trademark Database

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has begun publishing an on-line edition of the WIPO Gazette of International Marks, the official publication of the Madrid System for the International Registration of Trademarks. The on-line version of the Gazette is available on a weekly basis and is free-of-charge.The WIPO Gazette of International Marks contains data on new international registrations, renewals, subsequent designations as well as other changes to and entries affecting international trademark registrations. The Gazette also contains information of general interest such as declarations and notifications made by contracting parties under the Agreement, the Protocol – the two treaties that govern the Madrid System – or the Common Regulations under these treaties regarding particular requirements, or the amounts of individual fees.The international trademark system administered by WIPO allows a trademark owner the possibility of having a mark protected in up to 76 countries and the European Community (EC) by filing one application, in one language, with one set of fees, in one currency. Thereafter, the international registration can be maintained and renewed through a single procedure. An international registration under the Madrid System produces the same effects as an application for registration of the mark in each of the contracting parties designated by the applicant. If protection is not refused by the trademark office of a designated contracting party, then the status of the mark is the same as if it had been registered by that office.The system is governed by two international treaties, namely the Madrid Agreement and the Madrid Protocol. The Madrid Protocol which became operational in 1996 introduced several features including the ability to submit applications in English and extend the period for notification of a refusal which made the system more flexible and attractive to a larger number of countries. Applicants may now submit applications in three working languages of the system, namely, English, French and Spanish.

The Madrid Express database includes all international registrations that are currently in force or have expired within the past six months. It is updated daily.It also includes data relating to international applications and subsequent designations that have been received by the International Bureau but have not yet been recorded in the international register of marks. With regard to these, users are warned that the International Bureau has not yet made a decision on the international applications or subsequent designations concerned.While every effort is made to ensure that this information accurately reflects the data recorded in the International Register, the only official publication remains the Gazette and the only official statements by the International Bureau regarding the contents of the International Register for a given international registration remain the certified extracts from the Register established on request by the International Bureau.The subscription-only ROMARIN database contains a more-detailed history of the international marks.

Rodney D. Ryder