Madrid Resolution

The Madrid Resolution is a resolution adopted by the members of the United Nations Economic and Social Council on 3 November 1938, during its third session (1937-38). It recommended the establishment of an international registration system for trademarks.

The resolution was adopted by the Economic and Social Council on the recommendation of its Committee on Intellectual Cooperation. The Committee had been established in 1936 under the auspices of the League of Nations, but it continued to function after World War II as an organ of the United Nations until it was succeeded by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in 1946.

The resolution lays down principles for national laws dealing with trademarks that have been registered abroad without any provision being made for their protection in most countries that have no system of registration or protection for marks registered abroad. It recommends that these countries should provide such protection under their own laws, either by special legislation or by amending existing legislation so as to render such marks registrable at their own offices.

The Madrid Resolution provides for a centralized international registration system for trademarks based on a single application filing procedure at one office (the International Bureau) rather than multiple applications in each country where protection is sought.