Madrid System - Members

Members

Adherence to the convention or the protocol includes membership of the "Madrid Union." As of December, 2012, there were 89 members. The original treaty has 56 members, 55 of which (with the exception of Algeria) are also party to the protocol. The term 'Madrid Union' can be used to describe those jurisdictions party to either the Agreement or the Protocol (or both).

The primary reason the protocol—which has been in operation since 2004 and has 78 members—is more popular than the agreement—which has been in operation for more than 110 years and has 56 members—is that the protocol introduced a number of changes to the Madrid system which significantly enhanced its usefulness to trademark owners.

For example, under the protocol it is possible to obtain an international registration based on a pending trade mark application, so that a trade mark owner can effectively apply for international registration concurrently, or immediately after, filing an application in a member jurisdiction. By comparison, the agreement requires that the trade mark owner already holds an existing registration in a member jurisdiction, which may often take many months and sometimes years to obtain in the first place. In addition, the agreement does not provide the option to 'convert' international registrations which have been 'centrally attacked.'