Accession of Madrid Protocol by Brazil

July 19, 2019

After years of discussion, a political step has finally pushed Brazil towards the “no longer” inevitable position of acceding to the Madrid Protocol. Brazil on 3rd July 2019 has acceded and joined the list of member countries of Madrid Protocol and it has become 105th member country of Madrid Protocol. Earlier the Brazilian House of Representatives on April 4, 2019, approved a proposal for Brazil to join the Madrid Protocol.  The accession for Brazil is signed by its president, Jair Bolsonaro, and this system would come into force in Brazil from October 2019.

With this Accession, Brazil has become the 105th member of the Madrid Protocol, and this system will now allow a trademark owner to file a single international trademark application. WIPO’s director general Francis Gurry expressed the organisation’s delight that Brazil acceded to the international trademark system and said “We are absolutely delighted that Brazil, one of the world’s largest economies, has acceded to the international trademark system, this benefits brand owners in Brazil and across the globe. I hope other countries in the region follow suit”. Brazil’s Minister Paulo Guedes said that the initiative is a landmark in the Brazilian economy because intellectual property is today the most important asset in international negotiations. He emphasized the cooperation with the National Congress, in approving the adhesion to the Madrid Protocol.

With Brazil’s membership, the Madrid System for the International Registration of Marks will count world’s ten largest economies (as calculated by the International Monetary Fund) and the biggest economy in Latin America and the Caribbean as its contracting parties.

ABOUT MADRID PROTOCOL

The Madrid Protocol along with the Madrid Agreement, gives the legal basis to the Madrid System which is the primary method of international registration of trademarks in multiple Jurisdictions. Administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization, the Madrid Protocol allows the trademark owners of its contracting parties to seek protection of their trademarks in multiple countries by filing a single application. It is a cost-effective method as it saves time and money by filing one application, rather than a bundle of national applications. Moreover, the Madrid Protocol also allows such applications to be filed in a single language and grants protection to the trademarks in multiple countries upon the payment of a single fee.

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

  • First of these announcements by Brazilian government was Brazil’s adhesion to the Madrid protocol an international treaty that facilitates the registration of trademarks of Brazilian companies in other countries.
  • The second is the Patent Backlog Plan, which aims to reduce the number of backlog requests by 80% by 2021 and to reduce the average term of the grant to approximately two years from the request for examination
  • The Ministry of Economy, through the Special Secretariat for Productivity, Employment and Competitiveness (Sepec), and the National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) announced measures to reduce bureaucracy, costs and time in trademark and patent processes.
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