Questionnaire for Offices

Introduction

The Working Group on the Legal Development of the Madrid System for the International Registration of Marks (hereinafter referred to as “the Working Group”) concluded its sixth session (November 2008) with a request that the Secretariat prepare a document assessing, in the absence of the requirement of a basic mark, what tasks would be required to be performed with respect to the filing of an international application, and by whom. To that end, the Working Group invited the Secretariat to circulate a questionnaire among the Offices of the Contracting Parties to the Madrid system (see document MM/LD/WG/6/6, page 3).

The present questionnaire aims at gathering information on the range and level of services and tasks that Offices currently provide and carry out, as Offices of origin, in the context of both the international registration procedure and national registration procedures, to the extent that the latter benefit an international application.

The questionnaire contains 38 questions and is in three parts:

• Part A, entitled “International Filing Stage”, concerns tasks and services (mandatory or not) at the international filing stage, and contains two separate parts:
  • Part A.1. (questions 1 to 20) relates to tasks and services performed by an Office, acting as an Office of origin, that are not subject to the certification requirement as provided for by Rule 9(5)(d) of the Common Regulations; and
  • Part A.2. (questions 21 to 27) is concerned with the tasks performed by an Office, acting as an Office of origin, in the framework of the certification procedure.
• Part B (questions 28 to 34), entitled “National Filing Stage”, relates to tasks and services provided by an Office during the course of the filing/registration of a basic mark, which may in turn benefit the filing of an international application.
• Part C (questions 35 to 38), entitled “Post-Registration Stage”, deals with tasks and services provided by an Office subsequent to the international registration of a mark.

The majority of the questions are to be replied by “Yes” or “No”. However, several questions are “open” questions, in which case each Office is invited to provide a more detailed answer. To that end, an Office may use additional continuation sheets.

Offices are invited to provide the International Bureau with their replies by June 30, 2009, at the latest. In order to access and complete the electronic form online, please use the general password mentioned in Circular C. M 1334 dated June 3, 2009, addressed to the Office. Responses can also be sent to the Secretariat by email, for the attention of Mr. William O’Reilly, Senior Legal Officer, to the email address mentioned in that circular, or by facsimile (+41 22 338 8510) or by post (34, chemin des Colombettes, 1211 Geneva 20, Switzerland).