Category Archives: Madrid Protocol

Today is the day for Brazil and Madrid Protocol

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(Updated to reflect Article 14(5) Declaration.)

Starting today, a trademark owner in Brazil can file a Madrid Protocol application to pursue protection in one or more Offices outside of Brazil.

And starting from today, a trademark owner outside of Brazil can file a  new Madrid Protocol application designating Brazil.

I had previously posted that starting from today, a trademark owner outside of Brazil who already has an International Registration can file a Subsequent Designation to Brazil.  This is stated too broadly.  Brazil’s Instrument of Accession includes an Article 14(5) Declaration, which provides that a “sub des” can only be filed with respect to Brazil for an IR that was registered on or after today, that is, on or after October 2, 2019.   

The two-letter code for Brazil is “BR”.

 

 

Malaysia has joined the Madrid Protocol

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Malaysia has joined the Madrid Protocol. The Protocol will enter into force for Malaysia on December 27, 2019.

Malaysia deposited its Instrument of Accession on October 27, 2019. This brings to 122 the number of members of the Madrid system.

Malaysia joined the PCT on August 16, 2006. If Malaysia were to join the Hague Agreement, it would then achieve the trifecta for international filing systems.

The two-letter code for Malaysia is “MY”.

Starting from December 27, a trademark owner in Malaysia can file a Madrid Protocol application to pursue protection in one or more Offices outside of Malaysia. And starting from that date, a trademark owner outside of Malaysia can file a Subsequent Designation to Malaysia (or can file a new Madrid Protocol application designating Malaysia).

e-filing at WIPO — back to normal

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For the past three weeks the situation for e-filing at WIPO has been that the local time to e-file so as to get a same-day filing date in Switzerland has been different from usual.  But today the people in Switzerland have turned their clocks forward.  So things are back to normal.

For example if you are in the Mountain time zone, once again as of today you will be counting toward 4PM local time to get a same-day filing date in Switzerland.  (For the past three weeks the answer was 5PM.)

Whither Daylight Saving Time?

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More than five hours have passed since my blog posting that points out that right now you probably have an extra hour for e-filing of stuff at the International Bureau of WIPO.  Why do you have this extra hour?  You have this extra hour because probably you are in the US and you set your clocks forward.  And (this is the important part) the folks in Switzerland did not pick today to set their clocks forward.  (They will set their clocks forward in about three weeks, on March 31.)

Anyway, during this past five hours I sort of figured that at least one alert reader would have posted a comment about the imminent demise of Daylight Saving Time.  Yet, astonishingly, this has not happened!  So I will now discuss the imminent demise of Daylight Saving Time. Continue reading →

Who charges how much for foreign payments?

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As readers of this blog are by now well aware, my most recent obsession area of inquiry has been the sending and receiving of international bank wires.  More or less by accident I have stumbled upon smart ways to receive international bank wires.  As I describe in this blog article, more or less by accident our situation is that for our patent firm, we now receive our incoming foreign bank wires free of charge through Afex.com, and for my personal bank account, I receive my incoming foreign bank wires free of charge because the bank is USAA.

As for the foreign sender of funds, if the foreign sender of money to our patent firm happens to be a customer of Afex.com, they can send money to us and they will likewise not have to pay any fee (other than perhaps a currency conversion fee).

But how about sending bank wires?  Who charges more and who charges less for sending bank wires to foreign countries?  Here is a specific example of what it would cost to send about ten thousand dollars to Switzerland by any of three different providers.  I find the price differences to be striking. Continue reading →