[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 12 (Tuesday, February 4, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E158]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   MADRID PROTOCOL IMPLEMENTATION ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. HOWARD COBLE

                           of north carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 4, 1997

  Mr. COBLE. Today, I am introducing the Madrid Protocol Implementation 
Act. This implementing legislation for the protocol related to the 
Madrid Agreement on the International Registration of Marks was 
introduced in both the last Congress and in the 103d Congress. While 
the administration has still not forwarded the treaty to the Senate for 
ratification, the introduction of this legislation is important to send 
a signal to the international community and to U.S. businesses and 
trademark owners that the U.S. Congress is serious about our Nation 
becoming part of a low-cost, efficient system for the international 
registration of trademarks.
  The international system for the registration of trademarks 
established and operating under the Madrid Protocol, which is 
administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization, would 
assist our businesses in protecting their proprietary names and brand-
name goods while saving cost, time and effort. This is especially 
important to our small businesses who may only be able to afford world-
wide protection for their trademarks through a low-cost international 
registration system.
  The Madrid Protocol went into effect in April, 1996 and currently 
binds 12 countries. Without the participation of the United States, the 
Protocol may never achieve its purpose of providing a one-stop, low-
cost shop for trademark applicants who can, by filing one application 
in their country and in their language, receive protection by each 
member country of the Protocol.
  There is no opposition to this legislation, nor to the substantive 
portions of the treaty. The State Department is attempting to work out 
differences between the administration and the European Union regarding 
the voting rights of intergovernmental members of the Protocol in the 
Assembly established by the Protocol. Under the Protocol, the European 
Union receives a separate vote in addition to the votes of its member 
states. While it may be argued that the existence of a supra-national 
European trademark issued by the European Trademark Office justifies 
this vote, the State Department finds the provisions of the Protocol 
allowing intergovernmental organizations to have a vote in addition to 
the votes of its constituent member States to be in opposition to the 
fundamental democratic concept of one vote for each State. They also 
fear that this voting structure may constitute a precedent for 
deviation from the one state-one vote principle in future international 
agreements in other areas. Those differences need to be settled before 
the Secretary of State will recommend to the President that a 
ratification package be presented to the Senate. The State Department 
is working closely with the Subcommittee on Courts and Intellectual 
Property of the Committee on the Judiciary, which I chair, to formulate 
a proposal to the European Union, and subsequently to the members of 
the Protocol, to amend the Madrid Protocol Assembly voting procedures 
in a way which would provide for input by the European Union without 
circumventing the one member-one vote principle.
  It is important to move this legislation forward at this time, 
however, to encourage negotiation, and to assure that the U.S. stands 
ready to benefit from the Madrid Protocol as soon as it is ratified.