Thanks to Hayden Gregory, Legislative Consultant, ABA-IPL Section
e-mail: dchgreg@aol.co
"On October 17, the U.S. Senate gave its approval to the adherence by the United States to the Protocol to the Madrid Agreement for the International Registration of Trademarks. Legislation needed to implement the Protocol in the United States has also been approved by Congress and included in H.R. 2215, which is awaiting the President's signature. The Protocol and the implementing legislation will enter into force in the United States one year after the United States deposits its instrument of ratification with the World Intellectual Property Organization in Geneva."
`Madrid Protocol' means the Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks, adopted at Madrid, Spain, on June 27, 1989.
Section 13402 of HR 2215 adds a new section 51 to the Trademark Act of 1946 to permit US residents to file in the US for registration of a mark in the US and in the many foreign countries that are signatories to the Madrid Agreement. The theory is that the filing in the US Patent & Trademark Office will be cheaper and simpler for US persons to create trademark rights abroad. Here's a cite to HR 2215
ftp://ftp.loc.gov/pub/thomas/cp107/hr685.txt
We're all for globalization, but it will make US persons more subject to the practices of foreign trademark offices in respect of marks registered abroad and imported into the US.
Many US persons are insufficiently aware of the rights of those who already hold trademark rights. With the US's joining the Madrid Agreement, the US economy will be more affected by foreign trademarks as foreigners seek to register their marks in the US.
On the whole, it seems a good thing that the Havana Club trademark dispute should no longer hold up US participation in the world's basic trademark convention. The US's joining encourages the globalized economy. The simple answer is that trademark searches are ever more imperative before you spend a lot of money to name a product. There are now more places to look for an encroaching name.
Noel Humphreys
5:26:18 PM 
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