BY ALEJANDRO LUNA, PARTNER MANAGING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, INTERNATIONAL BRIEFINGS, JULY/AUGUST 2002 The Mexican Industrial Property Law (IPL) grants a patentee the right for the exclusive exploitation of the patented invention. Therefore, the patent gives the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale or importing the covered invention. Briefly, in a patent infringement action […]

BY GABRIELA GONZALEZ MANAGING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, INTERNATIONAL BRIEFINGS, MARCH 2006 On January 25, 2006, the Mexican Law of Industrial Property (LIP) was amended concerning the legal framework of franchises in Mexico to incorporate a new infringing cause based on the unauthorized use by a third party of the image of a product, best known as trade [...]

BY ARMANDO ARENAS In Mexico, the Mexican Trademark Office (TMO) has been reluctant to grant registrations for composite trade marks, especially those involving the protection of the shape of bottles. Arguably, this is because the TMO improperly focuses its analysis solely on the shape of the bottle, without studying the collection of elements as a whole. […]

BY ANTONIO BELAUNZARÁN AND LUIS C. SCHMIDT PARTNERS In common with many other countries Mexico is not exempt from pirates who obtain registration for trade marks previously adopted by their genuine owners. In most cases the pirate registration covers a mark that was originated in a foreign country. The registration will be rejected if the mark happens to [...]

BY LUIS C. SCHMIDT AND CESAR RAMOS JR. PARTNERS PATENT YEARBOOK 1996 Mexico has granted protection inventions since 1832. Various laws were promulgated over the following years, until finally in 1991 the current Law was passed. It introduced substantive amendments to improve the protection of industrial property rights which were, at least partially, forerunners of the North American […]

BY LUIS C. SCHMIDT PARTNER Exhaustion of rights, as an exception to the rights afforded by IP laws, has been recognized in the laws of many countries in the world. In general terms, it implies that the owner of intellectual property rights cannot oppose the further trading of products embodying its rights, if and to the […]

BY LUIS C. SCHMIDT AND CESAR RAMOS JR. PARTNERS MANAGING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, SEPTEMBER 2000 The explosive growth of the internet has triggered the ongoing development of a huge variety of software programs used for a multiplicity of business methods and processes. In the United States, the State Street (State Street Bank & Trust Co v Signature Financial Group Inc., No. 96-1327 […]

BY GUSTAVO A. ALCOCER PARTNER AND CARLOS WOODWORTH MANAGING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, JUNE 2005 INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY VALUATION HAS NOVELTY VALUE AMONG IP PROFESSIONALS NOT USED TO THE MAINSTREAM IMPORTANCE OF INTANGIBLE ASSETS. We used to refer to IP valuation as a new trend with increasing importance in proportion to the increased relevance of IP when compared to tangible […]

BY CESAR RAMOS, JR., PARTNER AND LUIS C. SCHMIDT, PARTNER MANAGING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, APRIL 2006 ELEVEN YEARS AFTER MEXICO JOINED THE INTERNATIONAL PATENT SYSTEM, LUIS SCHMIDT AND CÉSAR RAMOS OF OLIVARES & CÍA LOOK AT THE RECENT CHANGES TO THE PCT SYSTEM, AND CONSIDER THEIR IMPACT IN MÉXICO. The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) was conceived with the purpose [...]

BY LUIS C. SCHMIDT AND ABRAHAM DÍAZ MANAGING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, OCTOBER 2006 Effective from May 20 2006, the Federal District’s local congress (the Federal District of Mexico comprises part of Mexico City’s metropolitan area) passed legislation to protect the human personality and likeness. The statute was entitled Law of Civil Liability for the Protection of the Right to Private […]