The Madrid Protocol: important for Brazil?The Madrid Protocol: important for Brazil?

The Madrid Protocol is an international treaty created in 1989 that seeks to facilitate the registration of trademarks in various countries and that will only be adopted by Brazil in 2019. The delay in adopting this treaty is not surprising, since Brazil, despite being a stable democracy, is still a “closed” country with respect to the economy. For foreign companies established in Brazil and Brazilian companies that already export to other countries, the Protocol may mean a welcome reduction in costs. While for entrepreneurs who want to expand their businesses into the international market, it can be a great incentive due to making the protection of trademarks abroad easier and cheaper.

Brazilians have a remarkable entrepreneurial vocation, strengthened by the very high development of the franchise market in the country and by the number of medium and large size Brazilian companies that have established franchise networks in various countries, especially those where Portuguese and Spanish are the official language. It should be remembered that, on many occasions, entrepreneurs reach the foreign market without having adequately protected the trademark of the exported goods or services, which can greatly increase the cost of the business abroad, since they will have to bear significant expenses to recover the trademark or develop a new identity.

The same understanding applies to foreign companies that want to invest in Brazil. When multinationals or foreign entrepreneurs decide to register international trademarks, they will start to include Brazil in the initial project, since a single filing for various countries through the Protocol system should facilitate the organisation and reduce the cost for the company.

Some disputes may be generated due to the difference between provisions of the Madrid Protocol and Brazilian law that regulates industrial property rights in the section on trademark protection. In order to avoid relying on the courts for such conflicts, it is important to change domestic law so that there is symmetry between foreigners who use the Protocol system (to register their trademarks in Brazil) and Brazilians who file their applications for trademark registrations directly with INPI (the National Institute of Industrial Property) [or BPTO (the Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office)].

In general, the country has only to gain from the adoption of the Madrid Protocol, which also puts us at the forefront of the international trademark protection and registration system. For the Brazilian firms specialising in Industrial Property, it will be a new and rich experience to advise national and foreign companies on the use of the system.