China is special when it comes to filing trademark applications because of its goods and services classification system. China uses the Nice classification system of 45 classes like much of the world, but China also has the overlay of its subclassification system.

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It’s long been thought that one weakness of this centralised system is “Central Attack”. This is where the home registration is attacked (within five years of the international application date), the whole house of cards, which is built upon that home registration, may come tumbling down.

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Goods and services specifications are key when you’re deciding if Madrid is the right option for your client’s trademark filing.  As we mentioned in our last post, filing through Madrid should not be an automatic decision, and the specific mark is an important consideration.

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At Sortify.tm we think about the ins and outs of filing trademark applications around the world every day (after which we typically enjoy an in-house brewed craft beer)! If there’s one rule of thumb we have for filing internationally via the Madrid Protocol – it is that there is no rule of thumb. We don’t always recommend using Madrid and we don’t always recommend NOT using Madrid.

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Sortify.tm now contains fifty four new territories!

1. We've gone from Drafting and Conversion tools for eight territories to... SIXTY TWO territories
2. China, Japan, OAPI data added by popular request
3. Specification objections are soon to become a thing of the past...

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