On May 11, Zhang Mao, minister of SAIC, and Francis Gurry, director general of WIPO in Geneva, jointly signed an MOU on further strengthening cooperation, which would deepen current communication under Madrid system for international registrations of marks for both parties.
The Madrid system is composed of Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks and the Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks. The system provides a low cost, high efficiency, and easy operation route where the applicant would use one language, file one application and pay one bureau to make applications in multiple countries and regions and to easily manage trademarks after registrations. China became the member of Madrid union by accession to the Agreement and the Protocol respectively in 1989 and 1995. The accession was not only good for foreign enterprises to seek trademark protections in China, but also provided a convenient route for domestic enterprises’ overseas trademark protections, which was good for the “Going-out” strategy, and for the creation of international brands and for improving international competitiveness.
Zhang Mao said in an interview that the internationalization of China’s trademarks increased constantly. There were more than 2300 applications for Madrid international registrations by domestic enterprises in 2015, which ranked number six in all Madrid members.
Zhang Mao introduced that China’s economy has entered into the new development for implementing the thirteenth five-year plan. The IP protection was an urgent issue for Chinese enterprises’ going out and for foreign investments in China. The signing of a new MOU would be benefit for China’s IP protection and for WIPO’s development. In future, SAIC and WIPO would like to do more work for smooth current channel.
WIPO is one special organ under the United Nations, with the obligations on conducting cooperation with members, and promoting worldwide IP protections. China, as a member of WIPO, acceded to many WIPO administrated treaties including Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks, the Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks, and the Nice Agreement Concerning the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of Registration of Marks
