The Madrid System lets you extend protection to countries outside the European Union through a single application, filed in one language, with one set of fees. It is the standard route for a business exporting beyond the Union.
How it works
An international registration is not a worldwide trademark. It is a bundle of national rights obtained through a centralised procedure administered by WIPO. Each designated country examines the application under its own law and can refuse it. What the system centralises is the filing, the renewal and the recording of changes — not the substantive examination.
The application must be based on an existing national or regional mark, called the basic mark. For an applicant established in Romania, that is normally the Romanian registration or the EU trade mark.
Choosing the countries
This is the decision that determines both cost and value, and it is where most of the advice lies. Designation fees vary considerably between countries, and designating markets you do not serve wastes money while creating use obligations you cannot meet.
The useful starting point is not a map but your export data: where you actually ship, where your distributors are, where counterfeiting has appeared, and where manufacturing takes place. Manufacturing territories deserve particular attention — a mark unprotected where the goods are made is difficult to enforce against a producer.
The dependency period
For its first five years, the international registration depends on the basic mark. If the basic mark is refused, withdrawn or cancelled during that period, the international registration falls with it — this is known as central attack. After five years, the international registration becomes independent.
The practical consequence: the strength of the basic mark matters beyond its own territory. A weak Romanian registration puts every designation at risk.
Timing
Designated offices have twelve or eighteen months to notify a provisional refusal, depending on the country. Silence within that period means protection is granted. Where a refusal is issued, it is answered before the office concerned, normally through a local representative in that country.
What we do
We assess whether the basic mark can carry the international application, advise on the designations that match your trade, file through OSIM as office of origin, and monitor the notifications from each designated office.