Mexico

Director General of Mexican PTO participates as Chair in the 40th meeting of APEC-IPEG

Miguel Angel Margáin, Director General of the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI), participated in the 40th meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Intellectual Property Rights Experts’ Group (IPEG) held in Clark, Philippines from January 31 to February 1, 2015.

The meeting was aimed at strengthening the commitment of the APEC member economies to continued collaboration and support in IP matters. As well, the attendees presented plans for 2015.

The APEC forum was established in 1989 to support sustainable economic growth and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region. Its 21 member economies represent the 54 percent of the gross world product and 44 of the world trade. Currently three Latin American countries are members of the APEC forum: Mexico, which joined in 1993, Chile and Peru, which joined in 1994 and 1998, respectively.

“The aim of this meeting is that each of the 21 members share their experiences in order to face common problems,” said Margáin, who is also the APEC-IPEG Chair.

The Mexican representatives discussed facilitating innovation and the commercial exploitation of IP among small and medium-sized industries (SMEs), IP right compliance, innovation policies to promote the IP systems and initiatives to fight counterfeiting and piracy.

Source: http://www.indecopi.gob.pe

Filings and grants reveal Mexico near top in world

The Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI) received 16,126 patent filings from January 2014 until December 19, 2014, a 4.4% increase over 2013. Also, 702 utility model and 4,075 industrial design applications were filed at IMPI during this period.

From January until November, 2014,IMPI granted 9,027 patents, and registered 165 utility models and 2,239 industrial designs.

According to the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO), Mexico ranks 14th worldwide regarding the number of patent filings at IMPI and 10th regarding granted patents by IMPI.

The fact that IMPI is in 10th position concerning granted patents means that it is an efficient office with similar standards and practices to the best patent offices worldwide. The average overall prosecution time for patents filed at IMPI is four years.

Source:http://www.impi.gob.mx

First Latin American country to be part of WIPO´s database

Mexico, through the local PTO, has become the first Latin American country to add its database to the database managed by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

The main objective of WIPO´s database is to make easier the access to information concerning trademarks and other distinctive signs registered in several countries, including the U.S., Canada, Israel, and Australia.

Access to the database is free. It provides searches of 15 million signs, such as trademarks registries and denominations of origin and trademarks applications from different countries. In addition, it is possible to verify the availability of a certain trademark to be applied for a register.

Source: http://www.impi.gob.mx

First Latin American country to join OHIM search tool Designview

In December 2014 the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI), together with the Korean, Moroccan, Norwegian and Russian PTOs, made their design data available to Designview, a search tool developed by the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market of the European Union (OHIM).

Designview is a free of charge online consultation tool allowing any Internet user to search the designs of all participating offices, including OHIM and National Offices. It gives access to design applications and registrations provided by the participating offices though a single platform. Each office owns the content it makes available and is responsible for its daily update.

Designview can be used to:

• Check the existing designs across Europe and in non-European countries that are part of the project;
• Check market tendencies;
• Obtain easy access to post-registration services in a harmonized way.
• Check the novelty of a design;
• Provide info for legal administrative and legal processes, for example to help customs in case of conflict between parties;
• Assist PTOs, for example to carry out in-depth examination or to help examiners to check earlier priority rights.

The five PTOs mentioned above are the first non-EU to join Designview, which already provides data from 17 European National Offices and OHIM. With the inclusion of about 850,000 Korean, 50,000 Moroccan, 27,000 Mexican, 25,000 Norwegian and 55,000 Russian designs, Designview currently offers access to more than 3.5 M designs.

Source: http://www.impi.gob.mx

Touristic trademarks: Building economies and preserving tradition

The Mexican PTO (IMPI) recently granted touristic trademarks to eight towns in the state of Chiapas to help establish them as attractive touristic destinations featuring tradition, nature, culture, gastronomy and history. The towns are: Comitán, San Juan Chamula, Ocosingo, Chiapa de Corzo, Tonalá, Pijijiapan, Tapachula and Acapetahua, in the state of Chiapas.

In Mexico, many touristic trademarks have been registered, with the aim of creating an image that reflects the identity and qualities of the tourist location. Some, such as the trademarks for beach destinations, have been very successful. For example, the Cancún trademark is the most famous example of a Mexican tourist destination worldwide. Other examples of Mexican municipalities that have used trademarks to promote their tourist offers are Acapulco and Chihuahua.

“These trademarks will help the awarded towns and their communities to emerge nationally and internationally thanks to their promotion as tourist attractions, which will bring economic development for their population,” said Miguel Ángel Margáin, Director General of IMPI.

Source: http://www.impi.gob.mx

Coordinated actions against counterfeiting

In an effort to dismantle illicit trafficking of goods infringing on registered trademarks, agents with a search warrant carried out a raid in the state of Mexico seizing goods (lotion) bearing a known trademark. As well, empty plastic containers presumed to be filled with the fake liquid were discovered. The action was carried out by the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI) and the Specialized Unit on Investigation of Crimes against Industrial Property and Copyright (UEIDDAPI) as well as with federal police. Other coordinated actions, including one in Guanajuato that seized sport shoes, are helping to deter future infringers.

In both cases, the seized fake goods and vehicles were brought with the people involved before the Federal Public Ministry in order to decide about their legal status.

Source: http://www.impi.gob.mx

General Manager of INDAUTOR will speak at ASIPI Mexico

Manuel Guerra Zamarro, Director General of the National Institute of Copyright in Mexico will speak at the Inter-American Association of Intellectual Property (ASIPI) 50^th anniversary meeting in Mexico to be held November 29 through December 3.

Mr. Guerra Zamarro, together with Mr. Manuel Desantes, a specialist in intellectual property rights, will chair a panel on December 1, which will address “Intellectual Property as a Human Right.” An analysis will be made regarding the impact of intellectual property rights and whether, in fact, it can be considered as a Human Right in our legal system.

Source:  http://www.asipimexico2014.com

New PPH Pilot Program between EPO and Mexican PTO.

The European Patent Office (EPO) and the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to launch a Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) Pilot Program, starting from January 2015.

This bilateral agreement was signed during the 54^th Series of Meetings of the World Intellectual Property Organization General Assembly, held in Geneva from September 22 to 30, 2014.

This pilot program will implement fast-track patent examination procedures in order to enable patent applicants from Mexico and Europe to obtain patents faster and more efficiently.

According to the PPH Program, patent applicants with claims that have been determined to be allowable/patentable by either IMPI or EPO, may request accelerated examination of their corresponding applications that are pending before the other office. This is expected to speed up the process and reduce costs for applicants.

Miguel Ángel Margáin, Director General of IMPI, said that the existing PPH programs have been a successful and functional tool for users of the patent system in Mexico and its use has contributed to IMPI’s positioning as a modern institution in line with international trends in the field of industrial property. Currently, IMPI has PPH agreements with the Intellectual Property Offices of USA, Canada, China, Spain, Japan, Korea and Singapore.

The guidelines of this new PPH program will be available soon on the websites of each patent office.

Source: http://www.impi.gob.mx

Fifty-three percent of Mexican companies work without legitimate software

In addition, according to a study conducted by the Software Business Association (BSA), it is estimated that 53 percent of Mexican companies lack polices regarding the purchase of legitimate software.

In light of the above, it is the intention of Mexico´s PTO leadership to continue enforcing agreements with companies regarding the protection of IP rights.

Chief Executive Officer of BSA México, Mr. Kiyoshi Tsuru, has a view that software is a business resource that represents valuable assets for business (which can be deducted from financial statements) and must be properly purchased.

Source:  http://www.asipi.org

New Collective Mark for the Michoacán Sweet “Ate”

On August 2014, the Mexican PTO (IMPI) granted the collective mark for the sweet “Ate” (sort of quince paste) to the regional sweet producers of Michoacán, which will increase their possibilities of national and international commercialization.

With this new one, Michoacán has already 40 collective marks, making it the Mexican region with the higher number of this kind of protection. Additionally, it also has a Denomination of Origin for Charanda (an alcoholic liquor derived from sugar cane) and it is a producing region for certified tequila and mezcal.

During 2013, 460 applications of Michoacán for distinctive signs were filed before the IMPI, and during 2014, 288 have been received. Moreover, IMPI declared the trademark of the Michoacán Cineplex Company Cinépolis, as a famous trademark.

Source: http://www.impi.gob.mx