Currently, Thai business owners gain the ability to expand to international markets with the drive and support of both government and private sectors till Thai products and services win the hearts of people from all over the world, and the demand increases more and more. Therefore, protecting our brand in foreign countries is not a brand-new topic anymore and comes closer to home. Now, it is an essential step before conducting business abroad and should be planned early because registration has varying degrees of difficulty depending on the country.
Good news! Thailand has become a part of the Madrid Protocol, an international trademark system (also known as Madrid Registration), which everyone has probably heard about. However, many of you are still hesitant or have questions about this alternative route for trademark registration. Today, IDG would like to answer any questions about the Madrid Protocol. Let’s start with things you need to know before applying for the Madrid Registration.
International trademark registration under the Madrid Protocol is a parallel registration system. This alternative does not replace a direct route of international trademark registration by applying to the Trademark Office of the target country and grants better advantages as follows:
- Facilitate applicants who intend to enter many foreign markets all at once. The system has a unique form that allows applicants to apply by submitting only through the trademark office of Thailand or the original country of the trademark.
- Save costs as applicants do not need to assign trademark representatives in each country, and we have central organizations: the Thai Trademark Office and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
- Easy to track and manage applications with the Madrid system; no need to keep multiple recordings of the date of the application or the application number for each country.
To apply for international trademark registration under the Madrid System, applicants must submit a trademark registration application in Thailand first, known as the “basic application,” or must already have registered a trademark in Thailand, known as the “basic registration.” After that, the application or registration number will be a reference for international requests.
Additionally, it is crucial to be aware that applications for the Madrid system must be filled with the same content as the basic application or basic registration: the applicant’s name and address, the trademark’s name or picture, or the class and list of products or services. The applicants cannot specify more than what is stated in the basic application or basic registration. So, applicants should thoroughly check the content before applying for the Madrid Protocol. Most entrepreneurs or trademark owners usually register a small number of products to reduce the cost of the DIP fee in Thailand; consequently, the range of items in the Madrid application will be affected as well.