Bulgaria Now Offering Madrid e-Filing to its Users

September 23, 2020

Bulgaria becomes the second Southeast European country to offer the Madrid e-Filing service to trademark users, following the Republic of Moldova earlier this year.

Since September 21, 2020, the Patent Office of the Republic of Bulgaria has given access to Madrid e-Filing service to trademark applicants via its website. Brand owners will have the possibility to file international applications online. Conveniently nestled within the e-Filing service, users will have direct access to Madrid Goods & Services Manager to check the classification of terms in their list of goods and services.

(Photo: GettyImages/ Oleksii Liskonih)

It now brings the number of IP Offices using this WIPO solution to nine, alongside the Benelux, Australia, Georgia, Austria, Lithuania, Estonia, Canada and the Republic of Moldova. There has been a significant increase in participating offices over the last two years. A trend that is only expected to continue.

The adoption of Madrid e-Filing by the IP Office of the Republic of Bulgaria follows a first successful experience with the Madrid Application Assistant and a will to take the application process further online.

The extension to the Madrid e-Filing opens the door to Bulgarian brand owners to take advantage of the latest feature: the ability to communicate with their Office of origin and immediately receive and respond to irregularities issued by WIPO electronically. This feature is available to all participating offices and helps to save a significant amount of time in the processing of international registrations.

Other key benefits include:

  • Reduced application irregularities associated with manual data input, as the national IP office’s database prepopulates key information
  • Direct access to Madrid Goods &Services Manager for listing goods and services and eligibility across 37 contracting parties of the Madrid Protocol
  • A streamlined certification process at the Office of Origin
  • Synchronized filing with WIPO
  • Live application status displayed in the e-Filing dashboard
  • One service covering the whole registration process

How to use the Madrid e-Filing service

  1. Log on at the Patent Office of the Republic of Bulgaria and select “Create an application for international registration".
  2. Enter the basic mark/application reference and check the fields prepopulated with data from Patent Office of the Republic of Bulgaria records.
  3. Select the designated Contracting Parties and goods and services for protection.
  4. Update mark, holder, representative and language correspondence details.
  5. Pay the fees using a Current Account at WIPO, credit card or choose the new option to pay via the National Office.
  6. Upon certification by the the Patent Office of the Republic of Bulgaria and the confirmation of payment, the system sends the application directly to WIPO for registration.
  7. Respond to irregularity letters when necessary.
  8. Receive your international registration number.

Find out more