Dear Clients and Friends,
Pursuant to the commitments made by Mexico regarding intellectual property under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), the Mexico-EU Free Trade Agreement (Mexico-EU FTA) and the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP11), on January 17, the Official Gazette of the Federation published the Decree approving the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs (“Hague Agreement”).
The Hague Agreement governs the international registration and protection of industrial designs through a minimum of requirements, thereby simplifying the management of industrial property rights and reducing costs considerably.
Advantages of the Hague Agreement:
• The interested party may apply for the registration of an industrial design by means of a single application to the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), which may be submitted online and in Spanish. Thus, it will no longer be necessary to travel to other countries to obtain such protection, nor to hire agents to carry out the formalities.
• Subsequent changes to the industrial design, as well as renewal of the registration, may also be made through a single procedure before WIPO.
• International registrations are published in the International Designs Bulletin, issued weekly online.
• If the application for protection is not rejected within 12 months, international registration will be valid.
• In the case of Mexico, the application must relate to a single industrial design, or to a group of related industrial designs that comprise a single concept.
• Any change in the ownership of the international registration will not take effect until the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property has received the documentation accrediting the change.
In terms of the Hague Agreement, international registration will be valid through 5 years, renewable for additional 5-year periods, during which industrial designs will be protected in all signatory countries, including the European Union, United States of America, Canada, Spain or the United Kingdom, among others.
Intellectual and Industrial Property
Eduardo Cervera
[email protected]
Gerardo Sánchez
[email protected]
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