The 20th session of the Working Group on the Legal Development of the Madrid System for the International Registration of Marks was held from 7 to 11 November, in Geneva.
The Working Group meeting was opened by Wang Binying, Deputy Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), who highlighted a number of achievements in the past year. Among them were mentioned: the accession of new members, the benefits of the system of online filing of applications through the Madrid eFiling, the facilitation of the management of the international portal of trademarks, the promotion of this system, etc.
The meeting was attended by representatives of 79 member states, 7 observer states, representatives of 2 international intergovernmental organizations and 15 international non-governmental organizations.
Victoria Pulbere, Deputy Head of the Trademarks and Industrial Design Department, State Agency on Intellectual Property of the Republic of Moldova (AGEPI) was also present at the event.
The proposed amendments to the Regulations under the Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks were discussed during the meetings. The reduction of the dependency period from five to three years, the provisional refusal and the time limit to respond to notifications are other topics discussed in the previous sessions, as well as in this session. Including, the Report on the Revised Study on the Cost Implications and Technical Feasibility of the Gradual Introduction of the Arabic, Chinese and Russian Languages into the Madrid System was analyzed.
Mention was also made of the New Guide to the Madrid System, which provides practical information and advice to brand owners wishing to protect their trademarks outside of their home market through the Madrid System, as well as to inform IP Offices that are Contracting Parties about their roles and responsibilities under this system. The guide is available in English in PDF format and will soon be available in French, Spanish, Chinese, Russian and Arabic, and will be updated regularly.