This is a very important milestone for the Madrid Protocol.
Until now, there were two Madrid things. One was the Madrid Agreement, and the other was the Madrid Protocol. Filers who were filing international trademark applications were constantly having to keep track of whether a particular basic filing or application or designation was connected with the “Agreement” or with the “Protocol”.
As one example of a difference between the Agreement and the Protocol, the would-be filer relying upon a “Basic” filing needs to have a granted registration to use the Agreement, but merely needs to have a pending application to use the Protocol.
The Agreement is the older of the two. As of many years ago, every member of the Agreement had also joined the Protocol. Except Algeria.
Now after all these years Algeria has joined the Protocol. The practical consequence for users of the Madrid System is that from now on, all international registrations of marks will be exclusively governed by the Madrid Protocol. As a result, the filing and management of international registrations will be simplified for users.
So the Madrid Agreement is now a thing of the past.