Patent registration in Mexico. Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. Multiple international organizations coincide and classify Mexico as an upper-middle-income country or a middle-class country that is rising quickly on the world’s stage. Accordingly, many businesses want to enter this market and one of the most important preparations a business needs to take before expanding to this country is to learn the procedure of patent registration in Mexico.
Patent in Mexico
To be patentable in this country, an invention must meet the requirements of novelty, inventiveness, and industrial applicability.
However, if the disclosure of the invention in the patent application in Mexico is absolutely necessary, the applicant should enter into a non-disclosure agreement with the third parties to whom the invention would be disclosed in order to protect their rights.
On the other hand, the unpatentable subjects in Mexico are:
- discoveries, scientific theories, and mathematical records;
- plant or animal varieties or essentially biological processes for the production of plants or animals, other than man-made living micro-organisms, microbiological processes, and the products of such microorganism processes;
- schemes, rules or methods for doing business, performing purely mental acts, or playing games;
- methods for the treatment of a human or animal body by surgery or therapy and diagnostic methods practiced on the human or animal body.
Necessary documents for patent registration in Mexico
The necessary documents for patent registration in Mexico include:
- The request to grant a patent (patent application);
- Detailed information on the applicant(s) including the applicant’s and inventor’s names, addresses, citizenships, etc.;
- A description of the invention;
- A signed and stamped power of attorney by the applicant(s);
- A copy of the amendments (if any);
- Priority documents (if any).
- Other required documents.
The term for filing a patent application in Mexico claiming conventional priority is 12 months from the priority date.
The procedure for patent registration in Mexico
To obtain a patent in Mexico, the applicant needs to file their patent application to the IP Office of Mexico (The Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (Instituto Mexicano de la Propiedad Industrial – IMPI).
The patent applications in Mexico undergo formal and substantive examinations. The formal and substantive examinations are automatic and there is no request needed.
After examinations, the patent applications can be refused based on the following grounds:
- The application does not meet the legal requirements for a grant;
- The invention does not meet the novelty, inventive step, or utility requirements;
- The invention is against public order or violates a legal provision.
With regards to opposition, the third parties after seeing that the registration of the invention as a patent might threaten their rights can file an opposition to the IMPI.
The reasons for opposition can be varied.
Normally, it takes about 4 years from filing to granting a patent in Mexico.
Patents in Mexico are valid for 20 years from the date of filing.
The date of filing can be from the national filing date or the international filing date if the applicant chooses to file through the PCT Treaty.
You can see a list of Mexico IP firms here.