Registering an Indian trademark in Colombia: Madrid Protocol, priority and the SIC

A trademark registered in India does not protect your brand in Colombia.

Register an Indian trademark in Colombia: key facts

Six steps for an Indian brand

1. Clearance in Colombia: search the SIC register for identical and similar marks, including pending applications; official fees are not refunded once the procedure begins (Art. 277, Decision 486).
2. Route: a Madrid designation through the Indian Trade Marks Registry when the Indian mark is registered and unchallenged, since the designation depends on it for five years (Art. 6(3), Madrid Protocol), or a national SIC application within six months of the Indian filing to keep its date (Art. 9, Decision 486).
3. Filing: the Registry certifies the Form MM2(E) application against the Indian base and WIPO notifies Colombia (Art. 3(1), Madrid Protocol); a national application is filed with the SIC, its petition in Spanish and the goods or services grouped by Nice class (Arts. 7 and 151, Decision 486).
4. Publication: the SIC publishes the application in the Industrial Property Gazette and opens thirty business days for oppositions (Arts. 145 and 146, Decision 486); for a Madrid designation, a Colombian refusal, on examination or after an opposition, comes to you through WIPO (Art. 5, Madrid Protocol).
5. Decision: the SIC decides by resolution (Art. 150, Decision 486), and a refusal can be met with a request for reconsideration or an appeal within ten days after notification (Art. 76, Law 1437 of 2011); with no refusal notified in time, a Madrid designation is protected as a SIC registration (Art. 4(1)(a), Madrid Protocol).
6. Upkeep: a national registration lasts ten years from the grant and is renewed with the SIC (Art. 152, Decision 486); a designation follows the international registration and is renewed with WIPO every ten years (Arts. 6(1) and 7, Madrid Protocol); in both cases the mark has to be used in the Andean Community (Art. 165, Decision 486).

The two routes are detailed below, as Route 1, the Madrid designation from India, and Route 2, the national application with the SIC.

Colombia applies Decision 486 of the Andean Community, under which the exclusive right to a mark is acquired «por el registro de la misma ante la respectiva oficina nacional competente» [by its registration with the respective competent national office] (Article 154), and in Colombia that office is the Superintendence of Industry and Commerce (SIC). An Indian company can obtain protection there in two ways: by designating Colombia in an international application under the Madrid Protocol, filed through the Trade Marks Registry in India, or by filing a national application with the SIC, which can claim the priority of the Indian application if it is filed within six months of it. India and Colombia are both parties to the Madrid Protocol and to the Paris Convention: the first makes the international route possible, and the second, the Indian priority.

This page is for Indian manufacturers, exporters, technology and service companies and franchisors whose brand will be sold in Colombia, on their own or through a subsidiary, an importer or a distributor, and for trademark firms in India that handle those filings. The general rules for any foreign applicant are in trademark registration in Colombia; this page covers only what changes when the brand starts in India.

Decision 486 has no official English version, so Andean rules are quoted in Spanish from the official text, with our unofficial English translation in brackets. The Madrid Protocol, its Regulations and the Apostille Convention are quoted from their official English texts.

The treaties between India and Colombia

Three treaties shape how an Indian brand reaches Colombia. The dates in the table are those of entry into force for each country, read in October 2026 in WIPO Lex for the Madrid Protocol and the Paris Convention, and in the status table of the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH) for the Apostille Convention.

India is not a member of the Andean Community, which, as its official website states, is formed by Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. Each of those four countries registers trademarks in its own office, and Decision 486 measures use and reputation inside them, which matters for an Indian brand further down this page.

Route 1: designating Colombia from India under the Madrid Protocol

An Indian company that has applied for or registered its mark in India can extend it to Colombia through the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), provided it is an Indian national, is domiciled in India or has a real and effective industrial or commercial establishment there (Protocol, Article 2(1)(i)). Under Article 2(2) of the Protocol, the international application «shall be filed with the International Bureau through the intermediary of the Office with which the basic application was filed or by which the basic registration was made», so for an Indian basic mark it goes through the Indian Trade Marks Registry, which certifies that the particulars of the international application correspond to those of the Indian application or registration (Article 3(1)). IP India’s guidance, read in October 2026, says the application is filed on Form MM2(E) through the Madrid Protocol module of its Comprehensive E-Filing System, and that «A handling fee of ₹5,000 is payable to the Indian Trade Marks Registry for the certification and transmission of each international application».

WIPO charges in Swiss francs. Under the Schedule of Fees in force since February 1, 2023, the basic fee is 653 Swiss francs, or 903 if any representation of the mark is in colour. For Colombia, an individual fee is paid instead of a complementary fee: 276 Swiss francs for one class and 138 for each additional class, according to WIPO’s table of individual fees last updated on October 8, 2026. When Colombia is the only country designated, no supplementary fee for classes beyond three is due, because Colombia charges an individual fee (Article 8(7)(a)(i)). A mark without colour in one class therefore costs 929 Swiss francs in WIPO fees, plus the Indian handling fee.

WIPO then notifies the designation to the SIC, which examines it under Decision 486: from the date of the international registration, or of the recordal of a later designation, protection in Colombia is «the same as if the mark had been deposited direct with the Office of that Contracting Party» (Article 4(1)(a)). If the SIC refuses protection, on its own examination or after an opposition, WIPO transmits the refusal to you, and you have «the same remedies as if the mark had been deposited by him direct with the Office which has notified its refusal» (Article 5(3)). From then on the answer is due under Colombian procedure and in Spanish, as we explain in provisional refusal in Colombia.

Four details of the international application matter for an Indian mark:

• Indian scripts. If the mark contains words or numerals in Devanagari or another non-Latin script, the application must give «a transliteration of that matter in Latin characters and Arabic numerals; the transliteration into Latin characters shall follow the phonetics of the language of the international application» (Regulations under the Protocol, Rule 9(4)(a)(xii)).
• Translation. If the mark contains words that can be translated, you may give their translation into English, French and Spanish, or into one or two of those languages (Rule 9(4)(b)(iii)); WIPO does not translate the mark itself (Rule 6(4)(b)).
• A list for Colombia. Under Rule 9(4)(a)(xiii), «the international application may contain limitations of the list of goods and services in respect of one or more designated Contracting Parties», so the list for Colombia can be limited to what you will actually sell there.
• Priority. The priority of an earlier Indian filing can be claimed in the international application itself, naming the office where it was made, its date and, where available, its number (Rule 9(4)(a)(iv)).

The Madrid route carries one risk that the national route does not. For five years from the date of the international registration, the Colombian protection hangs on the Indian basic mark: if, before those five years expire, the Indian application or registration is withdrawn, lapses or is renounced, or a final decision rejects, revokes, cancels or invalidates it, for some or all of the goods and services, the protection «may no longer be invoked» to that extent (Article 6(3)). The same happens if an appeal, an action or an opposition against the Indian mark began within the five years and ends against it later, or if the Indian mark is withdrawn or renounced after the five years while such a proceeding, begun within them, is pending. An Indian application still under examination or facing an opposition in India carries that risk into Colombia.

Route 2: a national application with the SIC, claiming your Indian date

The other route is a national application filed with the SIC in the name of the Indian company, normally acting through a Colombian lawyer who holds its power of attorney. Because India and Colombia are both parties to the Paris Convention, the first application filed in India can give the Colombian one its date: Article 9 of Decision 486 grants the applicant, or its successor, a right of priority for the same subject matter on the basis of the first application validly filed «ante una autoridad nacional, regional o internacional con la cual el País Miembro estuviese vinculado por algún tratado que establezca un derecho de prioridad análogo al que establece la presente Decisión» [before a national, regional or international authority to which the Member Country is bound by any treaty that establishes a right of priority analogous to the one established by this Decision], with the scope and effects of the Paris Convention. For a trademark, the Colombian application must be filed within six months, a non-extendable term counted from the filing date of the Indian application.

The priority needs paperwork from India. Article 10 requires a declaration claiming it, stating when and with which office the Indian application was filed and, if known, its number. The declaration and the relevant documentation may be filed together or separately, with the Colombian application or at the latest within nine months, a non-extendable term counted from the Indian filing date. The same article requires a «copia de la solicitud cuya prioridad se invoca certificada por la autoridad que la expidió» [copy of the application whose priority is claimed, certified by the authority that issued it], a certificate of the date it was filed, issued by that same authority, and, where applicable, proof of payment of the SIC fee, about USD 96 per class in 2026. Documents that are not in Spanish, whether in English, Hindi or another language, need «una traducción simple en dicho idioma» [a simple translation into that language], that is, into Spanish, unless the office waives it (Article 8). Missing a term, a document or the fee costs the priority (Article 11).

Which route fits usually turns on three facts from India: whether the Indian mark is registered and unchallenged or still pending or opposed, how many other Madrid countries you need besides Colombia, and how far the Colombian list of goods or services must differ from the Indian one. We look at those facts and recommend one route in writing. The general comparison, including the transformation of a cancelled international registration into a national application, is in Madrid Protocol or national filing in Colombia.

What your Indian use and reputation count for in Colombia

Sales in India do not keep a Colombian registration alive

Once registered, the Colombian mark has to be used within the Andean Community. If, without justified reason, neither the owner nor a licensee nor anyone else authorized has used it «en al menos uno de los Países Miembros» [in at least one of the Member Countries] in the three consecutive years preceding the request, the SIC cancels the registration when an interested person asks for it (Decision 486, Article 165). Nobody may bring that request before three years have passed since notification of the resolution closing the registration procedure in the administrative stage; the owner who proves that non-use was caused by force majeure or an act of God, among other causes, keeps the registration; and if the mark was unused only for part of the goods or services, those are removed from the list, taking into account the identity or similarity of the goods or services.

India is not a Member Country, so sales there, however large, do not count. If the Colombian launch will take time, decide early who will use the mark in Colombia or in another Andean country, under your own name or under a written license, and keep the invoices that show it. We draft those agreements, as explained in trademark licensing and franchising, and the cancellation action itself is covered in trademark non-use cancellation in Colombia.

Fame in India is not the test for a well-known mark

Decision 486 protects a well-known distinctive sign against its unauthorized use and registration (Article 225). Unauthorized use includes a «reproducción, imitación, traducción o transliteración del signo» [reproduction, imitation, translation or transliteration of the sign] capable of causing confusion in relation to identical or similar goods, services, establishments or activities, and, even for different ones or for non-commercial purposes, where the use could cause a risk of confusion or association with the owner, unfair economic or commercial harm through dilution, or unfair advantage of the sign’s prestige (Article 226), which matters for a brand that is also written in an Indian script. But the Decision measures reputation inside the Andean Community. A well-known distinctive sign is «el que fuese reconocido como tal en cualquier País Miembro por el sector pertinente» [one recognized as such in any Member Country by the relevant sector] (Article 224). Article 229 adds that this status is not denied merely because the sign is not registered or pending registration in the Member Country or abroad, has not been used in the Member Country, or «no sea notoriamente conocido en el extranjero» [is not well known abroad]. For an Indian brand, the question is whether the relevant sector in Colombia, or in another Andean country, already recognizes it; that has to be proved with evidence from those markets, and a reputation built only in India does not answer it. Registering in Colombia remains the more direct protection.

If you also hold the mark in Peru, Ecuador or Bolivia

An Indian company that owns an identical or similar mark in Peru, Ecuador or Bolivia, for goods or services where using the mark could mislead the public, or that was first to apply for it in one of those countries, has standing under Article 147 of Decision 486 to oppose a conflicting application in Colombia. It must prove its real interest in the Colombian market by applying for the mark here when it files the opposition. How that works is explained in Andean trademark opposition in Colombia.

Documents signed in India: the apostille

India and Colombia are both parties to the Hague Convention of 1961 abolishing the requirement of legalisation, as the table above shows. The HCCH records objections to India’s accession by Belgium, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain, of which Belgium, Finland, the Netherlands and Spain later withdrew theirs, and none by Colombia, so the Convention applies between India and Colombia. It covers public documents executed in one Contracting State that have to be produced in another, including notarial acts and «official and notarial authentications of signatures» (Article 1). For such a document signed in India, the only formality that may be required to certify the signature, the capacity of the signer and, where appropriate, the seal or stamp is the apostille, «issued by the competent authority of the State from which the document emanates» (Article 3), and Colombia must exempt the document from legalisation (Article 2).

The apostille certifies the signature and the capacity of the signer, not the content of the document. Before you sign anything in India, we tell you in writing which documents your Colombian filing needs and which of them must be notarised and apostilled; how a power of attorney signed outside Colombia is prepared is explained in power of attorney for Colombia.

What the SIC charges in 2026, in US dollars

These are the SIC official fees for the steps on this page. Resolution 6167 of January 30, 2026 sets them in Colombian pesos; here they are in US dollars, rounded, at COP 3,174.67 per dollar, the market representative rate (TRM) published on datos.gov.co for October 17 to 19, 2026. They are online filing rates, lower than those for filing on paper.

A designation of Colombia under the Madrid Protocol pays Colombia’s individual fee through WIPO instead of the SIC filing fee. Resolution 75972 of 2026 takes effect on January 1, 2027 and repeals Resolution 6167; if you will file in 2027, we quote with the new rates. Our professional fees are not in the table: for trademark work we quote a flat fee in writing, the same day, and oppositions and appeals are quoted separately.

On timing, these are figures from our practice before the SIC for national applications, not legal deadlines: a decision usually comes six to ten months after filing if nobody opposes, twelve or thirteen months if there is an opposition, and an appeal against a refusal adds roughly eleven months. Times measured on real SIC files are in our SIC timing study (in Spanish).

Who handles your trademark

Your file is led by the founding partner of ADALET LEGAL S.A.S., a Colombian law firm, Andrés Felipe López Gutiérrez. He has practised law for more than 20 years and has directed the registration and defense of more than 3,000 trademarks before the SIC. He is a Specialist in Commercial Law (Universidad del Rosario) and in Public Management and Administrative Institutions (Universidad de los Andes), and he answers for the legal content of this site’s trademark guides.

In trademarks he handles clearance searches and registrability opinions, SIC filings, oppositions on both sides, appeals when a mark is refused, cancellations for non-use, renewals, assignments, coexistence agreements, portfolio watch and Madrid Protocol matters; in commercial law, distribution, franchise and supply contracts, which is where a brand meets the company that will sell it in Colombia. You deal with him directly.

How we work with an Indian brand

We start in Colombia, not in India: we look for identical and similar marks in the SIC register and give you a written registrability opinion before any official fee is paid. Then we check whether your Indian priority is still open, recommend a route, draft the list of goods or services for the Colombian market and tell you which documents are signed in India and which are apostilled. After filing we follow the file to the decision, and if a similar application is published in Colombia we assess with you, before the deadline, whether to oppose. Trademark firms in India that instruct us on behalf of a brand owner will find how we work with foreign firms in Colombia trademark agent for foreign IP firms.

Some steps do not need us. A first check of whether a mark looks available in Colombia can be made in the SIC’s public database, explained in Colombia trademark search. And designating Colombia under the Madrid Protocol does not require a Colombian lawyer; in practice you will want one if a provisional refusal or an opposition arrives, because the answer is due under Colombian procedure.

Page updated in October 2026. Sources consulted that month: the official website of the Andean Community (Decision 486 and its member countries); WIPO Lex (texts of the Madrid Protocol and its Regulations, and membership of the Madrid Protocol and the Paris Convention) and the fee pages of WIPO’s Madrid System; the HCCH (text and status table of the Apostille Convention); IP India (international applications filed from India); the SIC (Resolutions 6167 and 75972 of 2026), and datos.gov.co (TRM).

Frequently asked questions

Does a trademark registered in India protect my brand in Colombia?

No. A registration in India protects the mark in India. In Colombia the exclusive right is acquired by registering the mark with the Superintendence of Industry and Commerce (SIC), under Article 154 of Decision 486 of the Andean Community. An Indian company can get there by designating Colombia in an international application under the Madrid Protocol, filed through the Trade Marks Registry in India, or by filing directly with the SIC and claiming the priority of its Indian application, if the Colombian application is filed within six months of it.

Can an Indian company designate Colombia under the Madrid Protocol?

Yes. According to WIPO Lex, the Madrid Protocol entered into force for India on July 8, 2013 and for Colombia on August 29, 2012. An Indian company with an application or registration in India can designate Colombia in its international application, filed through the Indian Trade Marks Registry as Office of origin, or add Colombia later through a subsequent designation. For five years from the date of the international registration, the protection in Colombia depends on the Indian basic application or registration (Protocol, Article 6).

What are the fees to register a trademark in Colombia from India?

Through the Madrid Protocol, IP India indicates a handling fee of ₹5,000 per international application, and WIPO charges a basic fee of 653 Swiss francs, or 903 if the mark is in colour, plus Colombia’s individual fee of 276 Swiss francs for one class and 138 for each additional class, according to WIPO in October 2026. Through a national application, the SIC charges about USD 424 for one class and about USD 212 for each additional class in 2026, plus about USD 96 per class if you claim the priority of your Indian application, converted at the TRM in force from October 17 to 19, 2026. Our professional fees are separate and quoted as a flat fee in writing.

Which office registers trademarks in Colombia?

The Superintendence of Industry and Commerce (Superintendencia de Industria y Comercio, SIC). It is the Colombian counterpart of the Trade Marks Registry in India: it examines national applications and designations of Colombia under the Madrid Protocol, applying Decision 486 of the Andean Community, and keeps the Colombian register of trademarks, which can be searched before filing.

Does use of my trademark in India count against non-use cancellation in Colombia?

No. Under Article 165 of Decision 486, an interested person can have a Colombian registration cancelled if, without justified reason, the mark went unused in every Andean Community member country, by its owner and by any licensee or other authorized person, for the three consecutive years before the request. The member countries are Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, so use in India does not count. No such request can be filed before three years from notification of the resolution that closes the registration procedure, and the registration survives if the owner proves that non-use was caused by force majeure or an act of God, among other causes.

Is India a party to the Apostille Convention for documents used in Colombia?

Yes. According to the Hague Conference on Private International Law, the Apostille Convention entered into force for India on July 14, 2005 and for Colombia on January 30, 2001, and Colombia did not object to India’s accession. For a public document executed in India and produced in Colombia, such as a notarial authentication of a signature on a power of attorney, the only formality that may be required to certify the signature is the apostille issued by the competent Indian authority, and Colombia must exempt it from legalisation (Articles 1, 2 and 3). A document that is not in Spanish also needs a simple Spanish translation before the SIC, unless the office waives it (Decision 486, Article 8).

Is India part of the Andean Community?

No. The Andean Community, as its official website states, is formed by Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, and each of them registers trademarks in its own office under Decision 486. That Decision applies to an Indian mark filed in Colombia, but India does not count as a member country: priority from an Indian application rests on the Paris Convention, use in India does not prevent cancellation for non-use, and a mark’s well-known status is measured by its recognition in a member country.

Contact us

Send us the mark, the goods or services you will sell in Colombia and, if you have already filed it in India, the date and number of that application on WhatsApp; we will tell you which route fits and send you a flat-fee quote the same day.

Related pages

Trademark registration in Colombia · Andean trademark opposition in Colombia · Madrid Protocol or national filing in Colombia · Power of attorney for Colombia · Provisional refusal under the Madrid Protocol in Colombia · Trademark non-use cancellation in Colombia · Registro de marcas en Colombia para extranjeros (Spanish)