Article 181 of the Mexican Law of Industrial Property (MLIP) establishes that when a trademark application is filed by a legal representative, the legal capacity of the latter must be proved through a power of attorney signed by the applicant.
Recently, an amendment to Article 181 was enacted, allowing the possibility of filing a trademark application without a power of attorney. The only requirement is a statement under oath by the person filing the application that they are the legal representative of the applicant.
The rationale for the amendment is that, under the MLIP, the validity of a trademark registration cannot be challenged on the grounds that the legal capacity of a representative was not properly proven. Therefore, it doesn’t make sense to prevent someone from filing a trademark application on behalf of a third party in a bona fide manner, by stating under oath that they are its legal representative.
The amendment will also speed up the filing process by removing the need to obtain a power of attorney. This will particularly benefit foreign applicants, since they will not need to carry out this time-consuming action that sometimes delays the filing process. Consequently, it will save the costs of late document filings.
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MLIP, trademark applications, power of attorney
