Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Philippines Supremes affirm Madrid

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The Supreme Court (SC) on July 19th affirmed the 2012 accession to the Madrid Protocol. A petition was filed by the Intellectual Property Association of the Philippines (IPAP) against the President's ratification of the Madrid Protocol. See here for previous reports.

The SC unanimously dismissed the petition in which IPAP challenged the constitutionality of the Philippines’ accession to the Madrid Protocol by Executive action, without the agreement of the Senate.

IPAP's concern was alleged to be that foreign trademark applications would be automatically given protection under Madrid without designating resident agents as required by Section 125 of the IP Code. This supposed conflict led to the case. Others suggested it was concern about loss of fees from foreign work.  

In any event Madrid is popular with international companies generally due to simplicity and cost. Many Philippines companies now use it too, to get overseas protection. 

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