Tunisia joins Madrid

The Protocol, of course.  The country of Tunisia did not simply hop over the Mediterranean and plop down in the center of the Spanish capital, though that is quite an amusing image.

WIPO announced this week that Tunisia has joined the Madrid System for international trademark registrations.  As explained in the WIPO press release, the Madrid System allows a trademark owner to register their mark in many countries around the world with one application, one set of fees (the fees do go up the more countries you add to your list), and one currency (because we all love Swiss Francs).

Tunisia is the fourteenth country from Africa to join the Madrid System.  The most recent prior entry was Rwanda this past August. Perhaps the two most surprising omissions from the list of Madrid Protocol signatories are South Africa and Nigeria, especially since nearly all of South Africa’s neighbors have joined.  (Zimbabwe is the odd one out there.)