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Grune Erde founder and Managing Director Reinhard Kepplinger said the company is “delighted” to be registered as the millionth international trademark. “We have found that the Madrid system offers an easy and inexpensive way for our company to register its trademark internationally,” he said. Kepplinger added that Grune Erde, which employs more than 300 people, is tangible proof that “it is possible to create an ecologically-aware company that is highly successful within the marketplace.” The company produces and sells a range of some 5000 products made from natural materials including furniture, textiles and cosmetics.

The increasingly rapid growth of the Madrid system over the last two decades reflects the increased internationalization of trade and broader recognition of the commercial importance of trademarks. After the first international trademark was registered in 1893 by Swiss Chocolate-maker Russ-Suchard & Company, it took some 93 years to reach the 500,000th mark, registered in 1986 by Sandoz AG of Switzerland (now owned by BASF SE of Germany). The 750,000th mark was registered 15 years later in 2001 by microTec Gesellschaft fur Mikrotechnologie mbH of Germany. The 900,000th international trademark was registered five years later in 2006 by a Chinese company, Chaozhou Fengxi Jinbaichuan Porcelain Crafts Factory, with the millionth mark registered just three years later.

Source: http://www.wipo.int