What a Madrid System Filing Costs a Designer: Base Fee, Country Charges, Extra Classes

A woman designer who wants her label’s name protected in several countries does not have to file a separate application in each one. The Madrid System, run by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), lets an applicant file one international application and name the member countries where protection is sought. The fees are set in Swiss francs (CHF), and the filing goes through the applicant’s home trademark office.

The international filing rests on a national mark. Before filing, the applicant must register or apply for a trademark with the office of origin, which is the IP office of the member where the basic mark is held. The cost has three layers: a basic fee, a charge for each member country, and a charge for each class beyond three. The rest of this explainer follows that path, from the home filing to the fees and the ways protection can grow after the first filing.

Who Can File and What the Home Mark Must Be

An applicant must be a national of a Madrid System member, or have a domicile or business in one. WIPO’s guidance says an applicant with ties to several members can choose any one of them as the office of origin.

The home filing comes first. The applicant has to register or apply for a national trademark with that office before the international application is made, and the international filing is built on that basic mark. The international route therefore comes after the home filing, not in place of it.

A representative is optional. The applicant may appoint one person or company at a time to manage the application and sign communications with WIPO.

Base Fee Under the Madrid System
WIPO’s basic fee is 653 Swiss francs for a black-and-white mark and covers 10 years. A mark in colour costs 903 francs at the same stage.

The Filing Steps and the Goods List

WIPO’s guidance covers eligibility, the basic mark, an optional representative, the goods and services list, cost estimates, filing, and tracking the application. The application is filed in English, French or Spanish, and the applicant can select up to 130 countries.

The goods and services list cannot be widened once the application is submitted, so it should be settled before filing. WIPO points to its Goods & Services Manager to help compile the list.

The Fee Calculator, reached through eMadrid, estimates costs based on the target members and the number of classes. WIPO says the total is paid as one set of fees in Swiss francs.

The Base Fee, the Colour Surcharge and Renewal

The basic fee is 653 Swiss francs for a mark in black and white and 903 francs when any representation of the mark is in colour, a difference of 250 francs. The basic fee covers 10 years.

Renewal of the international registration costs 653 francs for each 10-year term, according to WIPO’s schedule. Renewal also carries a 100-franc supplementary fee, and a renewal filed during the grace period adds a surcharge of 50 percent of the basic renewal fee.

Applications from least developed countries receive a 90 percent reduction in the basic fee, which brings it to 65 francs for black and white or 90 francs for colour.

What Each Designated Country Costs

Each designated member is charged either a complementary fee of 100 Swiss francs or an individual fee set by that member. The individual fee replaces the complementary fee. The supplementary fee of 100 francs applies to each class beyond three, but it is not payable when only individual-fee members are designated.

The individual fees vary by member. WIPO’s table lists the United States at 460 francs per class, and the European Union at 789 francs for the first class, 48 for the second and 144 for each additional class. Japan charges 221 francs for one class and 208 for each extra class, while China charges 220 for one class and 110 for each extra. Australia charges 217 per class, the United Kingdom 240 for one class and 64 for each extra, and India 83 per class.

Renewal fees differ as well. The table lists 249 francs per class for the United States, 218 for Japan and 172 for Korea. For collective or certification marks, the European Union’s first-class fee is 1,346 francs, and China’s collective-mark designation fee is 661 francs for one class.

Using these figures, a three-class mark designated in the United States, the European Union and Japan comes to 3,651 francs with the basic fee. That is 653 francs for the base, 1,380 for the United States, 981 for the European Union and 637 for Japan.

The international route therefore comes after the home filing, not in place of it.

Adding Countries After the First Filing

Protection can be extended later through eMadrid, and WIPO says the request can be made at any time. The subsequent-designation basic fee is 300 Swiss francs, and each added member costs either 100 francs or its individual fee. WIPO first checks the formal requirements. A request with a defect triggers an irregularity notice, usually giving three months to correct it.

Depending on when a registration was recorded, some members may not be available for expansion. A registration recorded before the dates below may not be expanded to these members: Brazil (2 October 2019), Estonia (18 November 1998), India (8 July 2013) and the Philippines (25 July 2012). In those cases, WIPO says the holder can file a domestic application in that country or a new international application that designates it.

After WIPO records an expansion, the designated members decide whether to grant protection or issue a provisional refusal, and WIPO forwards those decisions to the holder.

Pitfalls for Small Labels Expanding Abroad

Sequence is the first trap. The basic national mark must exist before the international application is filed, and the goods list cannot be widened later. Both have to be settled before the filing goes in.

Currency is the second. All fees are paid in Swiss francs, although some offices of origin accept payment in local currency. WIPO advises checking eMadrid for handling fees at the office of origin, and it says applications cannot be processed until every fee is paid.

Costs scale with the number of countries and classes. A colour mark adds 250 francs at the basic level, and each individual fee is set by the member, so a label that adds classes or markets pays more. WIPO says its estimates depend on the schedule in effect at the time of submission.

Renewal is a recurring cost. Each 10-year term carries the 653-franc basic renewal fee plus per-member and per-class charges, so the cost of keeping protection in each country grows with the number of countries kept.