Trademark registration (IMPI)

What the process actually looks like

In Mexico the register decides. Rights belong to whoever files first, not to whoever used the name first, so the date your application reaches IMPI is the asset you are buying.

We begin with a search in MARCANET and a written opinion. If the mark is viable we file it with the Nice classification matched to what the business actually sells, because enforcement later reaches only the goods and services that were registered. One application covers one class.

Examination and the deadlines that matter

Once filed, the application is published and third parties have one month to oppose (article 221 of the Mexican Industrial Property Law). IMPI then runs the formal and substantive examination against the grounds for refusal in article 173, most often likelihood of confusion or lack of distinctiveness.

If IMPI raises a requirement, an impediment or an opposition, you have two months to answer (article 225), plus a further two months that run automatically on payment of the corresponding fee (article 226). If both terms pass without a response the application is abandoned, and there is nothing left to appeal.

One trap deserves its own warning: modifying the mark, or adding or substituting goods or services to get around an impediment, turns the application into a new filing with a new fee and a new filing date (article 227). The priority you paid for is gone. We would rather classify correctly once.

What you end up holding

• A registration certificate in the owner name, valid for ten years counted from the grant and renewable indefinitely (article 178).
• Exclusive use across the whole of Mexican territory for the registered goods or services.
• A blocking effect against later applications that are identical or confusingly similar in your class.
• An asset that can be licensed, franchised, pledged or sold.
• A calendared date for the declaration of use, which falls three years after the grant and cancels the registration if missed.

Foreign individuals and foreign companies can own a Mexican registration outright. No Mexican company is needed, only a local address for service, which we provide as your representatives, and a power of attorney.