[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 36 (Monday, September 11, 2000)]
[Pages 2004-2005]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Message to the Senate Transmitting the Protocol to the Madrid Agreement 
on International Registration of Marks With Documentation

September 5, 2000

To the Senate of the United States:

    I transmit herewith, for the advice and consent of the Senate to 
accession, the Protocol Relating to the Madrid Agreement Concerning the 
International Registration of Marks adopted at Madrid June 27, 1989, 
which entered into force December 1, 1995. Also transmitted for the 
information of the

[[Page 2005]]

Senate are the report of the Department of State with respect to the 
Protocol and a February 2, 2000, letter from the Council of the European 
Union regarding voting within the Assembly established under the 
Protocol.
    The Protocol will offer several major advantages to U.S. trademark 
owners. First, registration of trademarks internationally will be 
possible without obtaining a local agent and without filing an 
application in each Contracting Party. If the United States accedes to 
the Protocol, the Protocol will provide a trademark registration filing 
system that will permit a U.S. trademark owner to file for registration 
in any number of Contracting Parties by filing a single standardized 
application in English, and with a single payment in dollars, at the 
United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). The PTO will forward 
the application to the International Bureau of the World Intellectual 
Property Organization (respectively, the ``International Bureau'' and 
``WIPO''), which administers the Protocol. Second, under the Protocol, 
renewal of a trademark registration in each Contracting Party may be 
made by filing a single request with a single payment. These two 
advantages should make access to international protection of trademarks 
more readily available to both large and small U.S. businesses.
    Third, the Protocol will facilitate the recording internationally of 
a change of ownership of a mark with a single filing. United States 
businesses experience difficulties effecting valid assignments of their 
marks internationally due to burdensome administrative requirements for 
recordation of an assignment in many countries. These difficulties can 
hinder the normal transfer of business assets. The Protocol will permit 
the holder of an international registration to record the assignment of 
a trademark in all designated Contracting Parties upon the filing of a 
single request with the International Bureau, accompanied by a single 
payment. To carry out the provisions of the Protocol, identical 
implementing legislation, which is supported by my Administration, was 
passed by the House of Representatives and introduced in the Senate.
    Accession to the Protocol is in the best interests of the United 
States. Therefore, I recommend the Senate give early and favorable 
consideration to the Protocol and give its advice and consent to 
accession, subject to the declarations described in the accompanying 
report of the Department of State.
                                            William J. Clinton
 The White House,
 September 5, 2000.