Navigating India’s journey under the Madrid Protocol: Challenges and Developments

India's intellectual property regime underwent a significant shift with its ratification to the Madrid Protocol in 2013. India opened up new opportunities for trademark owners both domestically and abroad by joining the Madrid System for the International Registration of Marks, which gave them a single, unified method of obtaining protection in several jurisdictions.

This accession was a crucial part of India's larger strategic goal to make conducting business easier and align with worldwide Intellectual Property standards. By improving its digitalization initiatives and cutting down on pendency delays, the Indian Trade Marks Registry has since gradually improved its administrative and technical infrastructure to support Madrid applications. This has led to India becoming a key market for global trademark portfolios.

From 2013 to 2025, India's adoption and application of the Madrid Protocol have evolved significantly, demonstrating institutional strengthening, international cooperation, and improved procedural efficiency.

In the early years, the majority of Madrid Protocol activities were related to incoming Indian designations rather than Indian applicants seeking foreign registrations. India was mainly focused on aligning the domestic procedures with the WIPO standards, which included setting up the appropriate infrastructure to process international registrations efficiently. The initial tasks and challenges during this stage were of training the trademark Examiners, framing appropriate guidelines and procedures to handle international applications under the Madrid Protocol as well as to create awareness amongst Indian applicants regarding outbound filings.

Amendments to the Indian Trade Marks Act, 1999 and later, in 2017, to the Indian Trade Marks Rules, streamlined the law and procedure for dealing with international registrations in India. The Indian Intellectual Property Office during this period also modernized its system, enabling full electronic processing of International applications under the Madrid Protocol.

According to the 2023-2024 Annual Report[1] published by the Indian Intellectual Property Office:-

·        A total of 3372 international applications (including 479 applications which were filed in the year 2023-2024 alone) were filed by Indian applicants under the Madrid Protocol till the end of the year 2023-2024.

·        Of these, 3115 applications were certified and transmitted to WIPO and eventually 2554 marks were registered at the WIPO.

·        India, in its capacity as a designated contracting party, received 12838 designations via WIPO notifications.

·        The IPO generated 12576 corresponding IRDIs (International Registration Designating India).

·        A total of 3157 provisional refusals and 794 oppositions were issued, while 7206 designations were granted protection.

·        Significantly, 4234 applications of the protected marks were processed without the necessity of any applicant intervention.

Despite evident progress, India's Madrid Protocol implementation still presents several substantive and procedural challenges such as occasional delays in communicating provisional refusals to the WIPO within the 18 month time limit as well as providing appropriate system for transforming international registrations into national applications, in the event the international registrations under the Madrid system are cancelled within their five-year dependency period.

Further, the standard of examination of trademarks, especially on grounds of distinctiveness/ descriptiveness of the mark is more stringent in India in comparison to many jurisdictions and can vary from Examiner to Examiner. This lack of uniformity in examination practices at times fosters unpredictability, especially for foreign applicants.

The Indian Intellectual Property Office is continuously striving to enhance its e-filing, real-time status updates and online status tracking systems as well as resolve user interface issues and downtime, to facilitate procedural transparency and efficiency.

Despite these complexities, foreign applicants continue to designate India in their International registrations, owing to the country's unique market dynamics. As per the Madrid Yearly Review 2025[2], India ranks amongst the top 20 designated Madrid members.

While filing a trademark application in India nationally does give a foreign applicant certain advantages like having the option of requesting expedited processing of a trademark, filing a request for division of a multi-class application (in case the Trade Marks Office issues an objection/ an opposition is received against a specific class of the multi-class application) or claiming prior use of the mark in India, designating India under the Madrid system has primarily helped foreign applicants in saving costs, especially in cases where the trademark portfolio of the applicant is huge or if it is to be expanded in a number of jurisdictions as they can avoid incurring costs on appointing a local representative unless it becomes necessary (i.e. at the time of receipt of provisional refusals).

With its quickly growing digital economy, growing middle class, and enabling regulatory changes, India has become one of the world's most commercially attractive jurisdictions. India is seen as a priority jurisdiction in the worldwide trademark strategy of multinational firms that operate in a variety of industries, from consumer products and pharmaceuticals to technology and entertainment. With early designation, brand owners can strengthen their market position before operations begin and reduce the danger of infringement and squatters.

Additionally, India offers strong post-registration remedies due to its proactive enforcement environment and developing jurisprudence on Intellectual Property matters. The Indian judiciary has shown a clear commitment to protecting trademark rights, even in cases involving international reputation and dilution. The establishment of specialized Intellectual Property Divisions within High Courts to handle IP-related disputes, grant of interim relief and quick injunctions has further boosted confidence among foreign rights holders.

India’s performance, while improving, is yet to attain parity with jurisdictions like the United States and the European Union. Nevertheless, India is rapidly closing this gap by enhancing training of its trademark Examiners, automating workflows, and engaging in international cooperation. Compared to jurisdictions like Switzerland and the United Kingdom—both of which also maintain high standards in examination and digital access—India remains a work in progress, albeit with significant recent strides in Intellectual Property policy, digitization, and enforcement.

India’s bilateral and multilateral engagement with other key jurisdictions is also fostering greater harmonization of Intellectual Property practices, which benefits foreign stakeholders.

Conclusion:

India’s engagement with the Madrid Protocol over the past decade illustrates a determined progression toward global Intellectual Property integration. While some procedural inefficiencies still persist, particularly concerning examination timelines and consistency, the overarching trajectory is positive.

For Indian brand owners, the Protocol has become an essential tool for international expansion and for foreign entities, designating India is no longer optional but imperative, given the market’s scale and legal protections.

As reforms continue and global engagement deepens, India is set to become not merely a participant but a leader in shaping the future of international trademark protection.

 References:

[1] IPO Annual Report 2023-2024, Pg 80 to 82: https://ipindia.gov.in/writereaddata/Portal/Images/pdf/Annual_report_23-24_En.pdf

[2] Madrid Yearly Review 2025, Pg 10 (https://www.wipo.int/edocs/pubdocs/en/wipo-pub-940-2025-en-madrid-yearly-review-2025.pdf)