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Intellectual property
Responsible Authority: Mexican Institute for Industrial Property (IMPI).
The Mexican statute protecting property rights and sanctioning breaches is the Industrial Property Law (LPI in Spanish), and its regulations.
Likewise, Mexico is a signatory of the Paris Convention, the Patent Cooperation Treaty, the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) and others. The authority in charge of enforcing the law and the treaties is the Mexican Institute for Industrial Property (IMPI).
Patent protection may be requested before the Mexican Institute for Industrial Property, for all kinds of inventions such as goods, processes or man-created uses that allow transforming naturally-occurring matter or energy for utilization by man to meet specific needs, provided that the following requirements are met:
•Novelty: Something novel is something that is not included in a set of technical knowledge that has been made public through an oral or written description, or through exploitation or any other means of dissemination or information, in Mexico or abroad. •Invention: Is the creative process which outcome is sufficiently different from what has been used or described before that it may be said to be non-obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the area of technology related to the invention. •Industrial Application means the possibility of producing or using it in any branch of economic activity.
The Industrial Property Law provides that the owner of a patent shall exploit it, himself or through a third party, or by using or manufacturing the invention in Mexico or through importation and subsequent sale of the patented good or the good obtained through the patented process.
Likewise, in order to preserve the rights under a patent, the owner shall pay the yearly fees in the amount and at the time provided by the Tariff for the Institute services.
Duration of a Patent
A patent shall be effective for a non-extendable term of 20 years from the date of filing of the application and shall be subject to the applicable fee.
Priority
When a patent is requested after so doing in other countries, the priority date shall be that in which it was first requested, provided that it is filed in Mexico within the terms provided by international treaties or otherwise within the 12 months following the request in the country of origin.
Form and Content Review
Once the application is filed, the form review is made in order to verify that the documents and information required under the Industrial Property Law are properly included in the patent application file record (article 50 of the Industrial Property Law). The Institute may ask for accuracy or clarification, or require omissions to be corrected. If the applicant does not comply with this request within to months, the application shall be deemed abandoned.
Once the patent application is published, the Institute shall make a content review in order to determine whether the invention can be patented, being new, resulting from an inventive activity and applicable to industry or trade. If the application meets the patentability requirements under the Industrial Property Law, the applicant will be notified and should proceed to pay the fee for the issuance of title and the first five years annual fees of the patent.
Industrial design registries grant the owner an exclusive right for exploitation for a term of 15 years (Article 36 of the Industrial Property Law).
Likewise, the owner of a patent must exploit it himself or through third party. In order to preserve the rights under a registration, the owner shall pay the yearly fees in the amount and at the time provided by the Tariff for the Institute services.
A brand may be a name, visible shape, a three-dimensional form or a combination thereof, which may be used as a hallmark to differentiate a good or service from others of the same kind or species.
The brands are classified as nominal, unnamed, mixed or three-dimensional.
•Nominal: These are brands that allow identifying a good and its origin through a word or set of words. Its importance lies on the fact that such words can be phonetically discerned, that is, they must be sufficiently clear to differentiate such goods or services in the market from those of the same kind or species.
•Unnamed: These brands can be visually but not phonetically recognized. Its uniqueness consists in that they are only symbols, logotypes or any hallmark element.
•Mixed: These are brands combining words and figures that show a brand as one single element or as a hallmark.
•Three-dimensional: These are the brands protecting the wraps, packaging, containers, shapes or presentation of the goods themselves, which make them different from other goods of the same kind or species.
Hallmarks are an administrative entity in themselves and include joint brands, commercial names and commercial notices.
•Joint Brand: Joint brand is a hallmark which legally incorporated associations or partnerships of farmers, manufacturers, traders or service providers use to single out in the market the goods or products of their members from the goods or services of third parties that are not members of such associations or partnerships.
•Commercial Name: Commercial name is any name that is used to label a company or industrial, commercial or service entity within the geographical area where its effective customers are established. Both the commercial name and the exclusive use rights are protected without need for registration.
•Commercial Notice: A commercial notice consists in phrases or statements that are used to advertise to the public about goods or services, premises or commercial, industrial or service businesses to single them out from those of the same kind or species.
Form and Content Review
A review takes place before the application is filed. If at the time the application is filed it meets the information requirements under the law, it shall deem accepted and a file record number will be assigned, containing other data. Then a Form and Content Review is performed on the brand, commercial notice or commercial name to find out whether they can be registered under the law.
Once the formal requirements under the law are met, a phonetic review is performed, if necessary, to check the requested sounds against the existing ones. If there are similar or like sounds that may cause confusion, the requested registration will be disregarded.
When there are no impairments or any deficiencies are cured, the interested party will be notified and the certificate will be issued.
It is recommendable that the brands are registered in countries where they are traded or where they intend to trade the goods, because the registration is domestic.
The brand and commercial notice registrations are effective for ten years from the date of request filing. Brands, notices and commercial names can be renewed for similar periods indefinitely.
Denomination of origin is the name of a geographical area within a country that is used to name a product originating in such area and whose quality and features are due exclusively to the natural and human environment. Authorization to use a denomination of origin is processed with the IMPI.
The duration of a declaration to protect a denomination of origin will be determined by the permanence of the conditions that caused it and such duration will cease to have effect only by another declaration from the IMPI.
The IMPI, by means of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, will carry out the procedure through the register of the denominations of origin that have been matter of a declaration of protection under the LPI terms, to obtain recognition abroad in agreement with International Treaties.
Objects, utensils, devices or tools that, as a result of change in layout, configuration, structure or form, have a different function with respect to its parts or other utility advantages, may be registered as utility models provided they meet the following requirements:
•Novelty, •Industrial application.
Duration
The registration of utility models shall be effective for a non-extendable term of ten years from the date of filing of application and shall be subject to the payment of the relevant fee.
Unlike patents, utility model registration applications are not published when the form review is completed.
In some countries like Spain, Germany and France, the utility model is also known as small patent or mini patent.
Form and Content Review
In order to perform a content review on utility models, the form review must have been satisfactorily performed and completed.
An industrial secret is deemed to be all the information with industrial or commercial application that entails obtaining or maintaining a competitive or economic advantage before third parties in carrying out economic activities with respect of which it has adopted sufficient means or systems to preserve confidentiality and restricted access thereto.
Information in an industrial secret shall necessarily refer to the nature, features or purposes of the goods, the production methods and processes or the means and forms of distribution or marketing of goods or provision of services.
Public information that is evident for a technician in the matter, based on previously available information or which shall be disclosed under the laws or under a court order shall not be deemed industrial secret. Information provided to any authority by a person who owns it as an industrial secret will not be deemed to become public or disclosed under the laws, when such information is provided with the purpose of obtaining licenses, permits, authorizations, registrations or for any other acts of authorities.
A person who maintains an industrial secret may transfer or authorize a third party to use it. The authorized user shall have the obligation not to disclose the industrial secret in any manner.
Industrial design includes:
•Industrial drawings, combining any shapes, lines or colors incorporated into an industrial product for decoration purposes and that give it a unique own appearance; and •Those comprising all kinds of three-dimensional forms used as types or patterns for the manufactured goods, that provide a special appearance provided it does not imply technical effects.
The design (whether drawing or model) must be new, that is, created independently and must differ significantly from designs or combinations that are renowned worldwide.
In Mexico the design is only protected against use without the owner's authorization. Protection of industrial property rights are only granted in the country where it is requested and granted. If the same protection rights are sought abroad, the request shall be made in each county claiming preemptive right (Articles 40 and 41 of the Industrial Property Law).
A preemptive right consists of a country's obligation to grant the owner a period of at least 6 months from the date of registration in the country of origin, starting on the date of filing of the first application, so he may file with first priority any registration of the industrial design.
Duration
An industrial design registration grants the owner the exclusive right to exploit it for 15 years (article 36 of the Industrial Property Law).
Form and Content Review
Once the application has been filed, the form review is made to verify that the necessary documentation and information have been duly presented into the registration application. Unlike patent requests, Industrial Design registry applications are not published.
Once the content review is completed, if the application meets the requirements of the Industrial Property Law, the applicant is notified and may pay the issuance of the certificate and the one or five yearly fees, as the case may be. Once the payment is made, the certificate is prepared and delivered. The yearly fees shall be paid as provided by the Tariff in order to preserve the proprietary rights.
The owner of an industrial design shall exploit it, himself of through a licensee, or by using or manufacturing the invention in Mexico or through importation and subsequent sale thereof. In order to preserve the rights under a registry, the owner shall pay the yearly fees in the amount and at the time provided by the Tariff for the Institute services.
An integrated circuit is deemed to be a final or semi-finished product which elements, one of which shall be active at least, and one or all of its interconnections, are part of the body or surface of semiconductor materials aimed at performing an electronic function.
The Industrial Property Law recognizes the following schemes:
•Tracing sketch or topography: three-dimensional layout in any form, of the elements, one of which shall be active at least, and one or all of the interconnections of an integrated circuit, or the three-dimensional layout for an integrated circuit to be manufactured;
•Protected tracing sketch: a tracing sketch of integrated circuits with respect to which all the conditions provided hereunder have been met;
•Original tracing sketch: a tracing sketch of integrated circuit that is the result of the intellectual effort of its creator and is not customary or common among the creators of tracing sketches or integrated circuits manufacturers at the time of its creation.
The owner of an integrated circuit topography certificate confers the right to prevent other persons from reproducing the sketch without authorization or to import, sell and distribute it with commercial purposes.
Duration of the Registration
The registration of an integrated circuit tracing sketch shall remain effective for a non-extendable period of ten years from the date of filing of registration application and shall be subject to the payment of the relevant fee.
For procedures, refer to: http://www.apps.cofemer.gob.mx/buscador/nuevo_tree.asp?org=impi&view=20&page=2
http://www.apps.cofemer.gob.mx/buscador/nuevo_tree.asp?org=IMPI&view=20&page=3
Industrial Property Law: http://www.diputados.gob.mx/LeyesBiblio/pdf/50.pdf
Industrial Property Law Regulations: http://www.diputados.gob.mx/LeyesBiblio/regley/Reg_LPI.pdf
Agreement establishing the Rules for submitting applications before the Mexican Institute for Industrial Property:
Responsible Authority: Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Rural Development.
The protection of new plant species is guarded by the Federal Law for Plant Species.
A person who obtains a plant species acquires an inalienable and imprescriptible right to be recognized as possessor of a plant species and also to employ profitably and exploit, in an exclusive and temporary form, himself or by third parties with his/her approval, a plant species and its propagation material, for its production, reproduction, distribution or sale, as well as for the production of other plant species and hybrids with commercial purposes.
The duration of these rights is of:
•Eighteen years for perennial species (forestry, fruits, grapevines, ornamental) and its porta grafts, and •Fifteen years for species not included in the preceding sentence.
These terms will be counted as of the issuing date of the possessor's title and, once elapsed, the plant species, its use and exploitation will pass to public domain.
For procedures, see: http://www.sagarpa.gob.mx/tramitesyServicios/Paginas/default.aspx
Federal Law for Plant Species: http://www.diputados.gob.mx/LeyesBiblio/pdf/120.pdf
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