The Madrid Protocol is an international treaty

establishing a system for the registration of international trademarks.

Thailand

finally joined the other ASEAN countries Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Philippines,

Singapore and Vietnam on August 7th, 2017 by becoming the 99th

member of the Madrid System. The Protocol will enter into force in

Thailand on November 7th,

2017. Ministerial Regulations detailing

the registration procedure and costs are expected in the coming months.

Starting

from this date, the Madrid System will be accessible to both local and foreign

brand owners since Thailand will either act as the Office of Origin (i.e.

the country in which the basic national application is filed which will serve

as the basis of the international application) or be one of the

designated countries in the international application.

Overall,

this system is time-efficient due to a simplified and centralized procedure

before the Worldwide Intellectual Property Office (WIPO) since brand owners can

seek registration of their marks through a single application covering up to 98

countries filed before the WIPO in one language and payment of one set of fees

in one currency. This system can also be cost-effective depending on the

number of territories designated in the international application.

The main

drawback however is the risk of a "central attack": the international

registration is linked with, and is dependent on the fate of the basic national

mark on which it is based during the first five years after registration. Thus,

in case the international

registration is based on a Thai application which is finally refused to

registration, or if it is based on a Thai registration that is withdrawn,

revoked, cancelled or invalidated within these five years, such international

registration will be cancelled in all of the designated countries (with the

option to convert into national registrations depending on the countries).

It remains to be seen

how the DIP will handle the influx of international applications and the challenges

of translating the list of goods/services from English into Thai language.