Want your trademark registered globally?

Do you want to have your trademark protected in several countries, but find that filing a separate application in each country is complicated and expensive?

Relax. The entire exercise might become a cakewalk with India deciding to become a signatory to the 'Madrid Protocol'.

"We would be moving an application for becoming a party to the Madrid Protocol this year," a commerce ministry official said.

He said the time period for processing of an application in the country for trademark, one of the criterion for memberships, had come down to nearly one to one and a half year, much less than 2-3 years in some of the developed nations like Canada and Australia.

He, however, pointed out that the whole process may take about an year's time.

The Madrid Protocol, along with another international treaty called the Madrid Agreement, governs the so-called Madrid system for international registration of trademarks, according to the official.

The system is administered by the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organisation, which maintains the International Register of marks.

Although, the basic principles of the agreement and the protocol are the same, they differ in a number of respects, such as fees and time limits within which an office of a designated country can issue a refusal of protection of mark.

A country may become a party to either the protocol or the agreement or both. About 77 countries are party to the protocol or the agreement.

India issued 200,000 trade mark certificates in last two years.