1)There must be some non-token use within the first ten years of registration otherwise the trademark may be lost. The standard for 'non-token' here in the UK is very low (sales of a few hundred pounds over several years being enough), and in the rest of Europe is also low - use of the trademark on letterheads sent to customers has been enough, although purely internal use would probably be judged 'token'. Other jurisdictions, however, may have higher standards.

2) Whilst a registration in a territory (theoretically) forestalls other registrations, nowadays no-one examines UK or CTM registrations on relative grounds. This means that whilst a European Community registration is examined to see whether it fulfils the absolute grounds for registration (e.g., that it is capable of acting as a mark, that the registration is formatted correctly etc.), registrations of marks identical or similar to those already on the register will not be rejected.

3) The Madrid system has two parts - the convention and the protocol. In both systems a national registration is used as a 'root' from which applications in other jurisdictions may be made. Under the Madrid Convention (i.e., not in the US or UK, but many of the Latin countries) the applications may be subject to 'central attack' in the first five years of the Madrid registration, whereby if the trademark is restricted or cancelled in the root country, all branch applications are equally restricted or cancelled. In Madrid protocol countries in the event of a central attack the branch applications can be 'transformed' into national registrations, but at a cost.

4)European community marks (CTMs) are not always ideal, as they are cancelled throughout Europe. EU member states continue to maintain their own registries to which it is still possible to register national marks which cannot be cancelled in one go.

5) As Dan has noted before, China has at least three registers - HK, Macau, and mainland PRC. There is also the register maintained by the ROC authorities to consider. Complete protection in all of these territories can only be achieved by registration in every one of these territories. A registration in Macau does not register your TM in mainland China, and a PRC registration is useless in Taiwan.

This is very true in China, where various licensees may be sourcing products from the same country. It can create a real nightmare when trying to track down the source of a product and determining whether or not a supplier is authorized.