The 6th of april the Colombian Constitutional Court has approved the Trademark Law Treaty.  The only step missing for complete ratification of the treaty is that the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs informs the WIPO about its approval.

This is a very good news for trademarks holders as application procedures will be simplified.  One important point is that power of attorneys will be simplified and will not require any formalities. Another major point is that multi class applications will be also possible.

The approval of this treaty is part of the obligations that Colombia has agreed within the Free Trade Agreement with the United States.

We expect these changes to take place in about three months.

On December 2, 2009, the Colombian Senate, in plenary session, approved Bill 277/2009 calling for accession to the Madrid Protocol. The bill had been considered and approved by the Senate Second Commission on June 18, 2009. This is a significant step toward the accession of Colombia to the Madrid Protocol.

For Colombia’s accession to become effective, approval by the House of Representatives is still required. The bill has now moved on to the House of Representatives for consideration, first at committee level and then in plenary session, in the months to come.