The territorial nature of trademark law and the lack of a single universal registration system present challenges to franchisors and other brand proprietors expanding operations beyond the home market in which intellectual property rights have been secured. International treaties such as the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (“TRIPS”), the Madrid Agreement, and the Madrid Protocol have attracted worldwide support and made significant inroads towards harmonization of trademark registrability criteria and the administration of the registration process. However, intellectual property rights are, by their very nature, rights granted by a specific territory exercisable only within that territory’s borders.
