The Trade Marks Act, 1999 (TMA 1999) and the
corresponding Trade Marks Rules, 2002 (TMR 2002) is the law that
regulates trademarks
registration and protection in India. Similarly, the law
also prescribes a procedure for filing of a convention
application under Indian trademark law.
At the international level, the international
registration of trademarks under Madrid Agreement and Madrid Protocol
are also possible. However, India is not a party to Madrid Agreement.
This is the reason why the Madrid Protocol becomes important for
India.
The Madrid Protocol was adopted to render the Madrid
system more flexible and more compatible with the domestic
legislations of certain countries which had not been able to accede
to the Madrid Agreement. India is one such country that has not
acceded to the Madrid Agreement. The two treaties are parallel and
independent and States may adhere to either of them or to both.
The
Madrid Agreement and Madrid Protocol and their applicability and
implementation in India are still missing as India is
neither a party to Madrid Agreement nor it has ratified or acceded to
Madrid Protocol. Although India has enacted the Trademark (Amendment)
Act, 2010 yet the same has not been notified so far. In the absence
of the same, the proposed Act has no applicability in India.
However, some hints have been given by Indian
government that Madrid Protocol may be implemented in India. If this
is the intention of Indian government, both advantages and
disadvantages of Madrid Protocol should be analysed in detail before
acceding to the same.
