BY SERGIO RANGEL MANAGING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, INTERNATIONAL BRIEFINGS, JUNE 2008 Although the law used to enable Customs to enforce IP rights in Mexico, this year has seen a major advance in the fight against counterfeiters and pirates. In January and following intense work by federal enforcement authorities and IP owners, the brand new early alert anti-counter-feit [...]

BY JOSÉ IGNACIO DE SANTIAGO CONTRIBUTING FIRM, WORLD TRADEMARK REVIEW 2009 LEGAL FRAMEWORK Although a number of international treaties and the Mexican Constitution touch on aspects of anti-counterfeiting law, the main domestic laws are as follows: the Industrial Property Law; the Federal Criminal Law; the Copyright Law; and the Customs Law. BORDER MEASURES Stopping goods [...]

BY ISRAEL LEDESMA MANAGING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, INTERNATIONAL BRIEFINGS, MARCH 2010 Mexico has been facing a significant problem regarding the sale and distribution of counterfeit products for many years. The Mexican government, with the collaboration of IP rights owners, has taken various enforcement actions against counterfeiters. The most noteworthy of these have been the actions taken at the [...]

BY SERGIO RANGEL MANAGING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, SPECIAL FOCUS: ANTI-COUNTERFEITING, MAY 2010 As a result of the global economic recession, many IP owners have reduced their budgets for anti- counterfeiting campaigns. Scaling back enforcement to the most sensitive jurisdictions, eliminating intelligence and investigative actions, and hiring unknown firms in the belief that they will be able to [...]

by Sergio Rangel Managing Intellectual Property, May 2011 The enforcement of registeres trade marks in Mexico is constantly evolving. No more than three years ago Mexican Customs set up a department to alert IP owners of shipments of potential counterfeits. Now, in 2011, the Customs Authority is finalizing the first steps to run a project with [...]

BY DANIEL SANCHEZ, MANAGING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, INTERNATIONAL BRIEFINGS, APRIL 2009. Since 2000, the proper venues in which to challenge decisions from IMPI included the review recourse proceeding before IMPI itself and/or the nullity trial before the Federal Court for Tax and Administrative Affairs (FCTAA).   Last year, the Supreme Court, through a jurisprudence that is mandatory [...]

BY ARMANDO ARENAS IN MEXICO TRADEMARK RIGHTS ARE ENFORCED MAINLY THROUGH THE TRADEMARK OFFICE. THE ENFORCEMENT OF FAMOUS AND NOTORIOUS MARKS IS GOVERNED BY SPECIFIC RULES On June 16 2005 the Mexican Law of Industrial Property (LIP) was amended to improve the protection afforded to notorious and famous trademarks. The reform introduced a distinction between ‘famous [...]

BY ALEJANDRO LUNA PARTNER PATENT DOCS, 2010 On Friday, August 13, 2010, the Mexican Trademark and Patent Office (IMPI) made available through its website the new edition of the Linkage Gazette (Mexican health and IP law regulations require IMPI to publish a gazette every six months listing patents in force that cover allopathic drugs).  Regrettably, IMPI […]

BY ARMANDO ARENAS INTERNATIONAL BRIEFINGS, MANAGING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, OCTOBER 2010 According to the current wording of the Mexican IP Law, injunctions can be imposed during the course of an infringement action related to trademarks, patents or slogans, and the plaintiff has to post a bond of an amount fixed by the Patent of Trade Mark Office […]