As of 1 February 2019, the Common Regulations under the Madrid Agreement and Protocol will allow for the division and merger of International Registrations.

The Trade Marks (International Registration) Regulations have therefore been updated to allow for these changes, which will come into force on 21 March 2019.

From 21 March 2019, international trade mark owners will be able to divide goods and/or services out of their International Registration into a divisional registration. In cases where the application is undergoing examination, this will allow acceptable goods and/or services to proceed to acceptance. This will also allow trade mark owners to merge records that have previously been partially assigned or divided, back into a single International Registration.

For more details on our current process for the division or merger of international trade mark registrations, please visit the Maintain an International Trade Mark page on the IPONZ website.