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The Zest

Filing Your Trademark Abroad Changed on Oct. 1. Here’s the New Madrid Route

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If you're a U.S. brand planning to sell in other countries, the way you file for trademark protection abroad changed on October 1, 2026. International applications built on a U.S. trademark now go through WIPO's Madrid e-Filing system instead of the USPTO's own forms. The law didn't change, the fees didn't change, and you still need a U.S. application or registration to start from. What changed is where you file and who you pay.

Here's what that means in practice.

A quick refresher on the Madrid Protocol

The Madrid Protocol is a treaty that lets you ask for trademark protection in many countries with one application, in one language, through one office. That office is the World Intellectual Property Organization, or WIPO, in Geneva. As of this writing, the system has 117 members covering 133 countries.

The catch most founders don't hear about: Madrid doesn't give you a worldwide trademark. It delivers your application to each country you pick, and each one examines it under its own law. One country can approve your mark while another refuses it. You're buying a shipping service, not a single global right.

You also can't start with Madrid. You need a "basic" mark first: a U.S. application or registration that your international filing is built on. The U.S. filing sets the limits. The goods and services you list abroad can't be broader than what you listed at home.

What changed on October 1

Before October 1, a U.S.-based applicant filed the international application through the USPTO's TEASi forms and paid the USPTO in U.S. dollars. The USPTO then certified that the international application matched the U.S. one and sent it to WIPO.

Since October 1, 2026, the USPTO says WIPO's Madrid e-Filing is "the single place to file international trademark applications" based on U.S. applications and registrations. You file in WIPO's system, and the USPTO and WIPO's International Bureau process it from there. If the USPTO finds a problem with your filing, or WIPO sends an irregularity notice, you respond inside the same system.

To use it, you need a WIPO Account. The USPTO recommends using the same email address for your WIPO Account and your application, because that links the application to your eMadrid workbench, where you track status, manage payments, and later handle renewals and changes.

What didn't change

The fee amounts. The USPTO says the international application fee and the certification fee "remain the same." What changed is the currency and the recipient: you now pay WIPO directly in Swiss francs instead of paying the USPTO in dollars. WIPO's basic fee is 653 Swiss francs, or 903 if your mark is in color, plus a fee for each country you designate. Those country fees vary a lot, so the total depends on where you want protection. The U.S. side of the bill is covered in what a trademark actually costs.

WIPO takes WIPO Wallet, debit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay, Alipay and PayPal. One small bonus: paying WIPO directly avoids the $24,999.99 daily credit card limit on the government's Pay.gov (opens in a new tab) system, which mattered for large multi-country filings.

The USPTO's role in checking your filing. The USPTO still certifies that your international application matches your U.S. basic mark, and it can still refuse to certify one that doesn't.

The rules of the system itself. Each country still examines independently. And for the first five years, your international registration depends on your U.S. basic mark. If the U.S. application fails or the registration is cancelled during those five years, the international registration falls with it. That's why the USPTO strongly recommends waiting for the first office action on a pending U.S. application before you build an international filing on it.

If you already started a filing

Anything you already filed in TEASi gets finished in TEASi. The USPTO says to check your filing receipt if you're not sure which system you used. Later requests to extend an existing international registration to more countries, called subsequent designations, can be filed directly with WIPO or through TEASi for a fee.

Who can use this route

You can file through the U.S. as your office of origin if you have a U.S. application or registration to build on, and you're a U.S. national, you live in the U.S., or you have a real business establishment here. If you're based in the U.S., you can file without an attorney. Applicants who live outside the U.S. and want to use a U.S. basic mark need a U.S.-licensed attorney.

Does this matter for a small brand?

It matters if you sell, or plan to sell, outside the United States. Trademark rights are territorial. A U.S. registration protects you here and nowhere else. If your products ship to Canada, the U.K., the EU, or anywhere else, or if they're made in a country that gives the name to whoever files first, the question of filing abroad is real, and Madrid is often the cheapest way to answer it.

U.S. filers are the biggest users of the system. WIPO's latest yearly review counts 10,997 international applications from the United States in 2025, more than any other country.

The new route is a change in plumbing, not strategy. The strategy questions are the same ones they've always been: where do you sell, where is the product made, where do the copycats come from, and is your U.S. filing solid enough to build on. If you're working through those for the first time, the services page shows how the search and filing packages work, and the FAQs page answers most of what comes up before a first call.

Book a free 15-minute discovery call with the attorney (opens in a new tab)

(No legal advice is given on the discovery call. It's a chance to tell me what you're building and hear how the process works.)

Sources

This article is general information, not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.

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