WIPOD – International Trademark System Talks: Transcript of Episode 5
The Madrid Agreement from 1891 to the first Act of Brussels of 1900
Hello and welcome to International Trademark System Talks, a brand new podcast brought to you by WIPO’s Madrid System Information and Promotion Division. This podcast will give you insights into the International Trademark System, also known as the Madrid System.
My name is Olivier Pierre and I will be your host.
In our previous episode, we took an in-depth look at the Madrid Agreement and its main elements. Today we will talk about the first States that joined the Madrid Agreement and some trademarks registered in the 19th century that are still in force to date. Let’s begin.
The Madrid System is the fruit of tireless efforts of a group of leading countries in the field of industrial property. These countries were pioneers in drafting and negotiating the texts and provisions of the Madrid Agreement. In this episode, we will look at national trademark laws in countries that made it possible for them to join the Madrid Agreement of 1891.
Membership of the Madrid Union developed in an interesting way. According to Article 12 of the Madrid Agreement, individual States had to ratify the Agreement, and the exchange of ratifications had to take place in the city of Madrid, within a maximum period of six months. That six-month period for the exchange of the definitive ratifications in Madrid turned out to be too short for the completion of formalities in all the contracting States. The date had to be postponed, first to April 15, 1892, and finally to June 15, 1892, when five States, namely: Belgium, France, Spain, Switzerland and Tunisia were finally in a position to exchange instruments of ratification at the Ministry of State in Madrid. In the long history of the Agreement, other States would follow in joining the Madrid Union.[1]
The facilities offered by the Madrid Agreement began to function on January 1, 1893. Between the first year of implementation of the Madrid Agreement, and 1900, the year in which the first amendment to the Agreement was concluded, a total of 2391 trademarks were registered using the Madrid System.[2]
Now, let’s have a look at concrete cases of early trademarks from some of the founding States of the Madrid Agreement. We will go over each countries individually to look at their national trademark legislations as well as trademarks from the 19th century that are still in force today.
First off, we begin with Belgium. The progress of industrialization and commercialization during the 19th century led the public authorities of Belgium to adopt new regulations.[3] In 1879, the Belgian Government passed a law enabling trademark holders in Belgium to deposit and register their trademarks through Belgian consulates abroad, thus removing the need to go through foreign agencies.[4]
The Belgian Trademark law of April 1, 1879, also established a general framework for the registration of trademarks. The use of an exclusive trademark for an enterprise now had to be registered, both by the local enterprise court (formerly known as the Commercial Court until 2018) and by the national public authorities. Such registration conferred exclusive rights with respect to the use of a specific trademark, associated with certain goods and services.[5]
With this information in mind, let’s now have a look at a few Belgian trademarks.
Belgian trademarks
“Distillery de Beukelaer – also known as FX de Beukelaer – is a Belgian liqueur distillery. François-Xavier de Beukelaer created the Elixir d'Anvers in 1863. It is still produced in Antwerp today.” The name FX de Beukelaer was registered 142 years ago, in 1879.[6]
“In 1863, François-Xavier de Beukelaer founded his liqueur distillery at Paardenmarkt in Antwerp, but swiftly had to move to larger premises. …But even this larger distillery couldn’t keep up with demand, and François-Xavier de Beukelaer acquired land in Haantjeslei, forgive my pronunciation, together with the castle and the park, where a new and modern distillery was opened in 1894.”[7]
The trademark ELIXIR D'ANVERS F.X. de Beukelaer is still an active trademark under the Madrid System.
“Solvay was founded in 1863 by the Belgian Ernest Solvay and his brother Alfred.” The enterprise produced sodium carbonate – commonly known as soda – through a totally new industrial process at the time. This put the company Solvay on a level with Edison, Nobel, Bell and Marconi. The company registered its trademark in 1833, 138 years ago to be exact.[8]
“Solvay was at the forefront of the first industrial globalization that took place at the end of the 19th century. Thanks to its strong and precocious international network, the company contributed to the industrial development of the many countries in which it had settled – directly or indirectly through partnerships. As a global leader in its field, Solvay was also recognized for its extensive welfare programs and support of academic science.”[9]
The Solvay trademark is currently registered and active with the Madrid System.
“In 1882, Belgium saw the establishment of the first foreign branch and head office of the telecommunications company ‘International Bell Telephone Company’, more popularly known as ‘Den Bell’. Bell obtained a patent for a number of revolutionary telephone inventions” (get it? Number, telephone…). Fast forward to 1986, “Bell was taken over by the French telecom giant Alcatel. The ‘new’ Alcatel Bell specialized in internet and broadband.” Furthermore, in 2006, Alcatel Bell merged with the American telecommunications company Lucent and was given a new name, you guessed it: Alcatel-Lucent Bell. Finally, in 2016, the company was bought by telecom giant Nokia. With all these changes, the brand Alcatel-Lucent Bell has been in existence for a total of 136 years.[10]
We now take the Eurostar train from Brussels to Paris, with a short layover in Lille. Let’s look at a select few early trademarks from France.
“In France, the "Factory, Manufacture and Workplace Act" of April 20, 1803, is internationally known for establishing a system which made it a crime to pass off another's seal as one's own. Furthermore, the Criminal Acts of 1810 and 1824 made it a punishable crime to abuse the name of others or wrongly use the names of production areas. This system was not nearly as advanced as the comprehensive trademark legal structure we see today. On June 23, 1857 France established the first comprehensive trademark system in the world with the "Manufacture and Goods Mark Act," a trademark deposit system that embodied theories of both use-based and examination based trademark registration systems. Until the passage of that Act, France had employed an exclusively use-based system. In fact, in France's former colonial territories, the influence of this system continues.”[11]
France also became economically prominent thanks to its automobile industry. “Before the turn of the century, France’s two biggest automobile companies today began operation. France continued its role as one of the top industrial nations in Europe even after the 1800’s and throughout the 1900’s.”[12]
French trademarks
Peugeot
“In 1891, with the assistance of German inventor, Gottlieb Daimler and Emile Levassor, Armand Peugeot produced his first batch of automobiles.”[13]
The lion symbol first appeared in 1847 as their logo when the PEUGEOT family were producing steel products. The lion logo represented the strength and sharpness of their products – symbolized by the lion’s jagged and sharp teeth. The logo was registered as the PEUGEOT trademark in 1858. Their iconic sign began to appear on the bonnet of cars in 1948, the same year they first introduced the 203 model to the public. One can imagine that the lion logo evolved quite a lot throughout the years. In 1998, the lion symbol was updated with a set of paws in order to show the power and corporate balance of the company. Previously the logo was simply a lion’s head. In addition, the blue background color was introduced to the company branding to symbolize the forward thinking nature of the company.[14]
Renault
Another very known vehicle Manufacture Company from France and a direct competitor to Peugeot.
“The adventure began on December 24, 1898, when Louis Renault climbed rue Lepic in Paris, at the wheel of his "Voiturette". It was equipped with a revolutionary gearbox called: the "direct drive".” After this demonstration, Louis Renault received 12 firm orders for his voiturette that night.[15]
“Louis Renault then built the quadricycle, which he began to produce in large quantities under his company, the Société Renault Freres.”[16]
“Renault was founded in 1898 by the three brothers Louis, Marcel and Fernand Renault. The company was initially called “Renault-Frères” and the first logo in 1900 featured the brother’s initials, with two entwined Rs in an “Art Nouveau” medallion. Their logo was used primarily on internal documents, as it was not used to brand their vehicles. Their vehicles could however be recognized by the name “Renault-Frères” that could be seen on the running board and the LR initials (for Louis Renault) that were carved onto the wheel hubs.”[17]
Today, we have seen some examples of early trademarks and regulation in some of the first member States of the Madrid Agreement.
But wait, there is more! In the next episode, we will dive in additional examples with early member States such as Spain, Switzerland, Portugal, The Netherlands and more. Stay tuned for the next episode of International Trademark System Talks.
This takes us to the end of today’s episode. Thank you for listening and if you have any suggestions or any topic you want us to discuss, please let us know. Subscribe to our podcast to be notified of new episodes. See you next time on International Trademarks System Talks.
Olivier Pierre out!