Central attack is the rule under which, within five years of the international registration date, the home basic application or basic registration on which a Madrid international registration depends is refused, invalidated, cancelled or abandoned, causing the international registration to cease to have effect in whole or in the corresponding part. It is the Madrid System's greatest structural risk.
Legal Basis and Time Limit
- Under Article 6 of the Madrid Protocol, the dependency period is five years from the international registration date;
- If the basis ceases to have effect within five years, the international registration falls; after five years, the international registration subsists independently and is no longer affected by the home basis;
- If the basis is only partially cancelled (e.g., some goods are revoked for non-use), the international registration falls in the corresponding part.
Typical Triggering Scenarios
- The home basic application is finally refused (an international application was filed before it even passed preliminary examination);
- The home registration is invalidated over another party's prior rights;
- The home registration is cancelled for three consecutive years of non-use;
- The basic application is voluntarily withdrawn.
Remedy After Loss: Transformation
If the international registration is cancelled due to central attack, the holder may, within three months of the cancellation date, file national applications one by one in the formerly designated countries (known as "transformation"), preserving the original international registration date and priority date. But transformation requires country-by-country fee payment and local agents, so costs rise sharply.
How to Mitigate the Risk
- File only after the basis is stable: file Madrid after the home application passes substantive examination (preliminary approval publication), when refusal risk has been substantially reduced;
- Protect the basic mark: use it properly, renew on time, and actively defend non-use cancellation and invalidation proceedings;
- Dual track in core markets: for the most critical markets such as the US, file a separate national application in parallel with Madrid, so a fallback survives even if the international registration is attacked;
- Consider skipping Madrid: if the basic mark itself is mired in disputes, filing national registrations one by one is the safer option.
If you are unsure about the issues above, you can start with a US trademark registration at MyTMBee and act on the analysis provided by a registered agent.