The Madrid Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Marks is an international treaty originally signed on April 14, 1891.The Madrid Agreement is designed to simplify the filing of trademarks and service marks in different countries. The treaty provides for the international registration of an approved trademark by a single filing in one language, under one procedure, with the payment of one fee.
Nationals of member countries must first register their trademark in the country of origin prior to international registration. For this reason, the treaty tends to favor countries having the least rigorous application procedures, and consequently the United States and Canada, having more elaborate trademark registration procedures, have declined to become signatories.
