The Madrid Protocol
If I go with what is called the Madrid Protocol, I present my U.S. trademark, present it to Madrid, they go ahead, they make an international registration. Now the international registration, it means they review the form, make sure it qualifies as far as physically what’s in the application, that all the components are there.
Then it gets presented directly to each of those eight countries I selected, and I pre-pay for the government filing fee for those eight countries. And it gets presented and they come back to me individually later and if my mark gets registered with no opposition, there’s no further fees. I haven’t had to hire an attorney.
If one of my marks get rejected in one of my individual countries, at that time, of course, I have to hire an attorney and present it in that individual country. But once all eight marks are allowed, I only have to renew it through one place. Instead of having to go through eight individual places, I just file renewal and the fees with Madrid and the proof.
So it streamlines the paperwork and it’s a much more efficient way if I’m doing more than two marks.