The Madrid System is designed on an "attached" logic: an international registration does not arise in isolation but must "grow" from a domestic trademark. This domestic mark, known as the basic mark, serves as both the entry ticket for the application and the foundation for the first five years of the international registration.

Entry: Acceptance Notice is sufficient

The prerequisite for a Madrid trademark application is that the applicant already has a pending or registered trademark in their country of origin. Note this low-bar design: you do not need to wait for the registration certificate; once the trademark application is accepted by the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) and an acceptance notice is issued, you can file the international Madrid application based on it.

This arrangement is crucial for companies going global. Trademark applications in China often undergo lengthy examination periods; waiting until registration to launch international expansion could waste valuable market-entry windows. With the ability to file based on a receipt notice, domestic and international applications can proceed almost simultaneously.

Foundation: More stable registration status

But "can" does not equal "risk-free." An international registration remains dependent on the basic mark for five years from its filing date. If the basic mark is rejected, invalidated, revoked, or lapses due to non-renewal or voluntary abandonment within this period, the international registration will be partially or wholly invalidated across all designated countries. This is known in the industry as "central attack"—when the foundation fails, the entire building collapses. We will explore the mechanisms of central attack and strategies to mitigate it in upcoming chapters. For now, remember this key point: the health of your basic mark directly determines the fate of your international registration.

Therefore, the choice between "apply upon acceptance" and "register for stability" is essentially a trade-off between time value and rights security. For companies facing tight deadlines where seizing the window of opportunity is critical, filing based on the acceptance notice allows for immediate market positioning. However, for core markets and key brands, it is essential to simultaneously strengthen domestic trademark foundations—ensuring successful passage through substantive examination and registration completion, while maintaining ongoing protection (timely renewals, preservation of use evidence, and mitigation of risks related to cancellation due to non-use for three consecutive years).

Scenario Example (Non-Real Case)

An intelligent hardware company filed a trademark application in China and, within two weeks, submitted a Madrid Protocol application based on the receipt notice, designating over ten countries. Six months later, the domestic application was rejected due to a prior conflicting trademark. Since the international registration was still within its five-year dependency period, protection in all designated countries became invalid, rendering previous investments worthless. The lesson is not that "early filing was wrong," but rather that no stability assessment of the underlying trademark's registration prospects was conducted before filing.

Which one to use as the base

When you hold multiple similar trademarks, selecting the base trademark is a key decision. Prioritize the one with stable registration status, a logo matching your actual overseas usage, and a goods/services scope covering your international expansion. If unsure, it's better to solidify your position first than to launch prematurely with unresolved issues.

There is a technical dimension to selecting the basic mark: the choice of which mark serves as the basis determines the upper limits for the image, name, and goods/services scope in the international registration. This is what we will cover next under the "Consistency Red Line."