Mexico has joined the international trademark system, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has confirmed.
The nation becomes the 89th worldwide to sign up to the Madrid System for the International Registration of Marks and the treaty will enter into effect from February 2013. As a result of this move, the country can look forward to a cost-effective, user friendly and streamlined way of protecting and managing trademark portfolios internationally.
WIPO director-general Francis Gurry is delighted that Mexico has decided to sign up, making it the third Latin American nation to do so. Thanks to the Madrid Protocol, enterprises in the country will find it easier to expand their markets overseas.
“It will also assist WIPO in achieving its objective of transforming the Madrid System into a system with truly global reach,” Mr Gurry stated. He also praised the legal and institutional framework that has been put in place to ensure the process runs as smoothly as possible.
IMPI – the government body responsible for dealing with trademarks in Mexico – is among the top fifteen intellectual property offices in the world when it comes to trademark applications.
Mexico’s secretary of economy Bruno Ferrari noted the country is keen to diversify the trade agreements it currently has. As they are targeting a number of its neighbours, these could also decide to join the treaty in the coming months and years.
Anyone who is a member of the WIPO-administered Madrid system can protect a mark in up to 88 countries plus the European Union with its Community Trade Mark in just one application. This only has to be filled in one language – English, French or Spanish.
Applicants using the Madrid system must apply for trademark protection in a relevant national or regional trademark office before seeking international protection. Mexico becomes the fourth country to sign up this year, following in the footsteps of the Philippines, Colombia and New Zealand.
Visit CSC for more information in Trademark Protection Services.