Madrid Protocol
What Madrid Protocol means, how it works, a worked example, the mistakes we see and the questions founders ask.
DefinitionThe Madrid Protocol is the treaty behind WIPO's Madrid System, which lets an Indian business file one international trademark application through IP India and ask for protection in any of the other member countries.
India joined the Madrid Protocol in 2013. Instead of filing a separate application with a local attorney in each country, you file Form MM2 in English with the Indian Trade Marks Registry, which certifies it as the office of origin and sends it to WIPO in Geneva. WIPO records the international registration, publishes it and notifies each country you designated; each one then has 12 or 18 months to refuse, and a mark nobody refuses is protected there as if filed locally. You meet it when a brand starts selling, licensing or raising money abroad, or when a marketplace's brand registry asks for a registration in that territory. What it means for you: one application, one currency (Swiss francs) and one renewal every ten years covering every country, but the international mark depends on your Indian mark for its first five years, and a country outside the system (Hong Kong, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Kuwait among them) still needs a national filing. As of 8 October 2026 the Protocol has 117 members covering 133 countries, and 119 designations can be chosen from India.
How Madrid Protocol works
The route starts with a basic mark: an Indian application or registration in the same name, for the same mark and the same or narrower goods and services. The applicant files Form MM2(E) in English through IP India's international application module, pays the ₹5,000 handling fee, and selects the members to designate from the 119 options available from India, including the European Union as one designation and OAPI's seventeen African states as another. IP India certifies that the international application matches the basic mark and forwards it to WIPO, which must receive it within two months for the international registration to keep the Indian filing date.
WIPO's fees are paid directly in Swiss francs after its payment notice: a basic fee of CHF 653 (CHF 903 for a mark in colour) covering up to three classes for ten years, plus a complementary fee of CHF 100 for each standard-fee member and the individual fee each of the 76 individual-fee members sets, such as about CHF 460 per class for the United States, CHF 789 for the first class in the European Union and about CHF 1,420 per class for the UAE, and a supplementary fee of CHF 100 for each class beyond three where any standard-fee member is designated. WIPO checks formalities, registers the mark, publishes it in the WIPO Gazette of International Marks and notifies each designated office.
Each office examines under its own law and has 12 months, or 18 months for the members that declared it, to notify a provisional refusal; silence means protection. A refusal is answered in that country, usually through a local agent, within its own deadline. For five years the international registration depends on the Indian basic mark under Chapter IVA of the Trade Marks Act: if the Indian mark is refused, withdrawn or cancelled, the designations fall with it, with three months to transform them into national applications keeping the original date. The registration is renewed every ten years at WIPO, and members can be added later by subsequent designation.
A Surat textile brand with an Indian registration in class 25 files MM2(E) on 5 October 2026 designating the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, the UAE and Singapore in one class in black and white. It pays ₹5,000 to IP India and about CHF 3,827 to WIPO, roughly ₹4.5 lakh at the exchange rate of the day. WIPO registers the mark in January 2027; the UAE and the EU grant protection by mid-2027, the United States issues an office action on the goods description that the brand's US agent answers, and all five designations are protected by early 2028 with one renewal date in 2036.
Mistakes we see with Madrid Protocol
- Filing the international application while the Indian basic application is still facing an objection, which exposes every designation to central attack if the Indian mark fails within five years.
- Listing broader goods in MM2(E) than the Indian mark covers, which IP India cannot certify and which delays the filing past the two-month window.
- Paying a look-alike invoice for publication or renewal that arrives after WIPO's gazette entry; only WIPO, IP India and the applicant's own agent issue genuine fee demands.
- Designating a market that is not a member (Hong Kong, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal or Kuwait) and discovering months later that a national filing was needed.
Last updated 19 October 2026. Checked against the MCA, GST, Income-tax and Trade Marks rules in force for October 2026.
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Questions founders ask about Madrid Protocol
How much does a Madrid Protocol application cost from India?
₹5,000 to IP India plus WIPO's fees in Swiss francs: CHF 653 basic (CHF 903 in colour) and a fee per designated member, from CHF 100 for standard-fee members to over CHF 1,400 per class for the UAE. Five typical markets in one class come to roughly CHF 3,800 to 4,000, about ₹4.5 lakh, plus professional fees.
Do I need a registered Indian trademark before using the Madrid Protocol?
No, a pending Indian application is enough as the basic mark, but the international registration depends on it for five years. A registered or at least unopposed Indian mark is the safer base, because a refusal of the Indian application brings down every designation.
How long does international registration take under Madrid?
IP India certifies within about two months, WIPO registers and publishes within two to three months of receipt, and each designated office then has 12 or 18 months to refuse. Protection in the designated countries is therefore settled between one and two years after filing, with the date of protection relating back to the international registration date.