Ramat Gan, Tel Aviv – Staff of Dr. Eyal Bressler & Co. joined colleagues at a seminar on the Madrid Protocol for the International Registration of Trademarks, to which Israel is expected to become a signatory within the next few months.  Representatives from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) of Geneva and the Israel Patent Office outlined the changes and implications related to the Protocol, which will allow Israel based trademarks to be registered abroad via the Israel Patent Office.

Currently, trademarks must be registered separately in each country in which protection is required, entailing the use of a local agent in each case, with correspondingly high costs.  The new system will permit a single online filing, based on an Israeli trademark or trademark application, covering as many of the 73 member states as desired, upon payment of a basic fee of 653 Swiss francs (some $550) and an extra fee for each country designated.

The international mark may be centrally managed, with use of a local agent needed only in the case of a refusal.  Another advantage of the system is that if a designated country does not give notice of a refusal within 18 months, the mark is automatically registered in that country.

Israel’s accession to the protocol will lead in parallel to important modifications to local law on trademarks, notably the change from a single-class to a multi-class system, thereby permitting local applicants to file an Israeli trademark application in several classes simultaneously at reduced cost. 

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