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.'
Read more about this topic: Madrid System
Famous quotes containing the word members:
“...wasting the energies of the race by neglecting to develop the intelligence of the members to whom its most precious resources must be entrusted, already seems a childish absurdity.”
—Anna Eugenia Morgan (1845–1909)
“Man is more disposed to domination than freedom; and a structure of dominion not only gladdens the eye of the master who rears and protects it, but even its servants are uplifted by the thought that they are members of a whole, which rises high above the life and strength of single generations.”
—Karl Wilhelm Von Humboldt (1767–1835)
“A family with the wrong members in control—that, perhaps, is as near as one can come to describing England in a phrase.”
—George Orwell (1903–1950)