1 August 2012Jurisdiction reportsYuri Vazquez

The new Amparo trial

Derived from the need to have more laws that respond to the current demands and requirements of Mexico, in 1999 the idea of transforming the Amparo trial came up to safeguard governed citizens against acts of authority.

The main objective of an Amparo trial—brought to us by Manuel Cresencio Rejon and Mariano Otero in 1840 and currently established in our national legislation—is to restore circumstances to how they were before the violation of the authority.

In this sense, any governed citizen (individual and/or moral person) that files an Amparo trial, and who obtains a favourable decision, will alone be able to enjoy the reinstatement of its individual rights that were violated in the first place. This is what is known in law as a principle by the aggrieved party.

However, nowadays, many legal actors have agreed that repairing unfair and illegal acts of the administrative, judicial or military authorities through an Amparo decision is not enough because, as described, this decision will only and exclusively protect the individual and/or moral person who originally filed the Amparo suit.

Therefore there is a need to provide Amparo decisions with erga omnes effects, which means that, for example, when a law is considered unconstitutional by a judge, it is not only the person who filed the Amparo suit that benefits from constitutional protection. Because the whole law is unconstitutional, the same protection should be applied to any individual and/or moral person through a general declaration of unconstitutionality.

“WHEN A LAW IS CONSIDERED UNCONSTITUTIONAL BY A JUDGE, IT IS NOT ONLY THE PERSON WHO FILED THE AMPARO SUIT THAT BENEFITS FROM CONSTITUTIONAL PROTECTION.”

Another situation that led to the creation of new Amparo legislation is the need to stop the multiple acts of authoritarianism that some authorities, on occasion, commit against some individuals, and especially against their human rights.

In this regard, recent reforms to the Mexican Constitution have established that the state is obliged to be efficient in its functions, but with absolute respect for human rights, which now find support in the Mexican Constitution and in the international treaties of which Mexico is part. Intellectual property rights are now considered, formally speaking, as a part of human rights.

The importance of these issues is clear, but most important are the implications of fact and law that in IP matters will result from the implementation of the new law of Amparo, once it is approved by the Mexican Congress.

Any individual and/or moral person will be able to file an Amparo suit without exhausting other instances, if he considers that his IP rights are being violated in a direct way.

In the author’s opinion, it will be the task of the parties, judges and litigators to form precedents from this new law of Amparo, allowing better day-to-day enforcement of IP interests.

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