Madrid/Section 8 Trademark Grace Period Inconsistencies

Frank Terranella recently noted on the Patents.com Madrid Listserv that "the legislation enacting US participation in the Madrid Protocol has a quirky maintenance scheme with no grace period for the 6-year affidavit and only a 3-month grace period for the 10-year affidavit."

"I suspect the Madrid legislation (which was hanging around for years) was first drafted back in the days when there was no grace period for a Section 8, and the renewal grace period was three months," responded John Welch. "Apparently someone forgot to update it."

It appears that we have another few years before it becomes an issue unless Congress amends the Madrid practice to match the Section 8 practice.