Trademarks can be registered in almost all countries around the world, it has been reported.
According to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), every national or regional office maintains a Register of Trademarks which contains full application information on all registrations and renewals.
This enables third-parties to examine, search, and raise opposition to trademark registrations, allowing them to assert their own rights.
However, WIPO explained that the effects of such a registration are limited to the country or countries concerned.
“In order to avoid the need to register separately with each national or regional office, WIPO administers a system of international registration of marks,” the organization said.
“This system is governed by two treaties, the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks and the Madrid Protocol.”
Any person who has a link – through nationality, domicile or establishment – with a country party to one or both of these treaties may, on the basis of a registration or application with the trademark office of that country, obtain an international registration.
This will then have effect in some or all of the other countries of the Madrid Union, WIPO noted.