THE MADRID PROTOCAL
The Federal Government has announced that Australia will join the Madrid Protocol enabling Australian companies to make a single application to register their trade marks in up to 49 countries.
Until now, each country – has required a separate application.
Participation is expected to begin from April and the Australian Trade Marks Office is establishing a new division to handle ‘Madrid’ applications. Patent attorneys have warned that the new system could mean an escalation of the number of oppositions to existing trade marks.