The Madrid trademark system has been operating in Indonesia since 2 January 2018. By March 2019, over 8,000 international applications have designated Indonesia. On average, it takes around 2-3 months for WIPO to complete the formalities stage and forward the applications to the TMO in Indonesia. So far over 5,000 applications have been received and are undergoing examination. It is taking around 7 months to complete examination. A number of office actions have been issued since the start of 2019. Around 80% are passing without office actions.
One of the major challenges is unrecorded assignments – the Indonesian TMO’s proprietor data needs to be updated faster. The result is the TMO does not always know who the correct proprietor of a blocking mark is. Another is when the specification is limited in Indonesia compared to other markets; this negates many conflicts; applicants need to ensure they know whether this has happened to avoid unnecessary conflicts.
Indonesians are also using Madrid. So far 28 local companies have filed 32 international applications.
