The Madrid System comprises of two treaties: The Madrid Agreement and the Madrid Protocol. These treaties deal with the international registrations of trademarks. The Madrid Protocol is the successor of the Madrid Agreement.

In essence it is an international filing system which affords the applicant protection in several jurisdictions by filing a single application in a national office. Cabinet gave its approval for Trinidad and Tobago to accede to the Madrid Protocol.

The Madrid Protocol:

• Opens up for applications to be filed in any one of 3 languages as oppose to one through the normal route.
• Financial savings: – Instead of having to pay separate filing and other fees; the applicant would now have to pay only one fee to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) who decides the fee.
• The process is simple:- It takes one application in one currency and in one language (English or French or Spanish) rather than having separate applications.
• Less time is spent on following up applications in different countries; you can simply communicate with WIPO about the status of your application / applications.
• A major advantage to the economy is that there would be more revenues coming into the economy and in essence more contribution would go towards the GDP of the country.