Mauritius joins the Madrid and Hague Systems

The Madrid and Hague systems continue to grow and will soon include a new country!

Indeed, from May 6, 2023, it will be possible to protect your trademark and your design in Mauritius via the international procedure, which allows you to file an industrial property title in several countries through a centralized application at preferential costs.

The Madrid System simplifies the trademark registration process through the filing of a single international trademark application for up to 130 countries now, and a centralised management system, where each state examines the application independently from each other, according to their own legislation.

Thanks to the simple and rapid designation procedure provided by the Madrid System, French or foreign companies and trademark owners will be able to apply for protection of their trademarks under the Madrid System when they market or plan to offer their products and services in Mauritius.

The Hague System concerns the international registration of industrial designs. The industrial property title of “Design” allows to protect the appearance of a product. Sometimes neglected by companies, even though they are aware of the protection of inventions by patents or names by trademarks, this protection is nevertheless essential since the aesthetics of your product is often decisive for the consumer and requires financial and human investments.

Acquiring a monopoly on the aesthetics of your product requires reflection in parallel with its conception, since the design title must be filed before the expiry of a period of 12 months following the disclosure of the product to the public.

The protection sought can be national, it can be European with the Community design title protecting the 27 member countries of the European Union, it can also be international thanks to the international design which is a single and centralised application filed with the WIPO and which can now protect up to 95countries.

will, of course, assist you in this process and remain at your disposal for further information!

– Anaïs GREFFOZ, Intellectual Property Lawyer at Mark & Law