Hungarian Intellectual Property Office

Glossary of Industrial Property Terms

The International Application for Trademarks

The benefits of the international application for trademarks:

• The possibility to have a mark protected by simply filing one application with a single Office of any of Member States of the Madrid Agreement and the Madrid Protocol (hereinafter referred to as "Agreement" and "Protocol")
• A trademark registered through the International Bureau produces the same effects as if it was filed in each of the countries designated by the applicant (i. e. the national way). Designated country is the country in which an international application can be made under the Agreement and/or Protocol on the day of application.
• Until the publication of the application through the International Bureau it is not compulsory to resort to a representative. It results money saving.
• The individual fee of the international application is lower than the national trademark application fee. The fee has to be set in one currency, in Swiss francs. The application fees are same under the Agreements while under the Protocol the Member States are entitled to require a so-called individual fee. These fees, however, must be lower than the national trademark application fees.
• The application can be file in one language (French or English).
• After the registration, application for recording of all changes or renewal can be filed with the International Bureau.

The international trademark application towards the International Bureau of World Intellectual Property Organization can be submitted to the office of the applicant's own country. Only the national office, which is the Hungarian Patent Office (hereinafter referred to as "Office") in Hungary, may forward such an application to the International Bureau. The data of the Hungarian trademark application and/or of the registration must be certificated by the Office for the International Bureau in the language of the trademark application.