MADRID PROTOCOL
Turkey has been a signatory to the Madrid Protocol for more than a decade. Ayça Pinar Eren Yasar and Gonca Adali Basmakci look at its effectiveness and popularity.
Te Madrid system offers a trademark owner the possibility to have a trademark protected in several countries by simply filing one application. In addition to a single application for several countries, the system also provides lots of additional advantages to the trademark owner. It is possible to designate member countries subsequently or easily file any changes using a single step. Besides all of these advantages, the most important benefit of the system is its cost- effectiveness. Of course, the system also has a few disadvantages, like dependence on the basic application for five years. However, the positives of the system generally outweigh the negatives for applicants. As a result, the number of users of the system is increasing day by day.
As of January 1, 2011, 83 members are party to the agreement or the protocol, or both.
Since Turkey is one of the biggest markets in Europe, with a growing population of 73 million, it has becomes an attractive market for foreigners. Terefore, the number of foreign applications is increasing. In order to facilitate the application procedure in Turkey and meet the requirements of the applicants, Turkey decided to become a member of the system. Te Madrid Protocol (1989) entered into force in Turkey on January 1, 1999, and has been used effectively ever since by both local and foreign trademark owners.
Te table overleaf shows the number of international applications designating Turkey and the number of national applications by foreign applicants until the end of 2010. In the first year of the membership, there is a big jump between 1999 and 2000, and the number of international registrations doubles in a year. Generally though, there are up and downs between years, but the overall trend is up (except in 2009, due to the impact of the global economic crisis). Te average number of international applications designating Turkey is 8,900 over the last five years. Tis average is more than double the average numbers of national foreign applications in Turkey. Most applicants prefer to use the Madrid system for trademark registration.
Turkish companies also use the international registration system very effectively for trademark registrations with contracting parties. According to the online Romarin database, 6,827 international registration applications were filed based on Turkish national applications from January l, 1999 to April 1, 2011. As it is possible to designate multiple countries with a single international application, we may assume that more than a hundred thousand applications were filed with the contracting parties of the Madrid Protocol by Turkish companies.
www.worldipreview.com
World Intellectual Property Review May/June 2011
41
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