NEW DELHI - India’s Union Cabinet approved on February 8, 2007 the country’s accession to the 1989 Madrid Protocol, relating to the Madrid Agreement administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
According to a press release by India Press Information Bureau (PIB), the Cabinet also approved to amend the 1999 Trademarks Act, with a view to India’s accession to the Madrid Protocol concerning the International Registration of Marks, to initiate action for accession to the Protocol and to introduce a Bill in the Parliament.
This will provide better and extensive protection abroad for Indian mark owners and the filing of applications by foreign mark owners in India and will facilitate transfer of technology through trademarks licensing and franchising. This will facilitate speedy registration of Indian marks in different markets worldwide and promote business confidence in Indian Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) system globally.
Any country, which is a member of the Paris Convention of WIPO, can accede to either the Madrid Agreement or the Madrid Protocol or both. Currently, 57 countries are members of the Agreement, 71 countries are members of the Protocol and 48 countries are members of both the Agreement and the Protocol.
There are several advantages in acceding to the Protocol instead of the Agreement. Accession to the Madrid Protocol will entail amendments to the “Trade Marks Act, 1999”.
