As Mexico becomes an ever more important jurisdiction for IP professionals, four of the country’s leading law firms analyse the key issues for WIPR’s look at the Mexican scene.
It has been a busy year for IP owners in Mexico. Brands are still assessing new regulations on registering company names and protecting data, while one decision involving ‘sanitary registrations’ is still troubling some patent owners. Looking ahead, Mexico’s involvement in multilateral trade negotiations may bring wide-ranging benefits to IP owners in the country.
First, the good news. On September 14 the government published the Regulations for the Use of Company Names, which establish new rules for rejecting company names. Previously, company names were granted “regardless of the existence of registered trademarks”, said Ignacio Dominguez-Torrado of Uhthoff, Gomez Vega & Uhthoff. “This caused confusion and led to the erroneous acquisition of IP rights.”
The Ministry of the Economy, the government body overseeing the national trademark office, has superseded the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as the authority that allocates company names. “It can therefore perform cross-searches to avoid erroneously granting company names that already exist as trademarks,” said Dominguez-Torrado.
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sanitary registrations, Leyva Montenegro Trigueros Abogados Saucedo Romo de Vivar y Asociados, Arochi Marroquin & Lindner, COFEPRIS, Uhthoff Gomez Vega & Uhthoff
