Amendments To The Trademark Registration Procedure

After the Madrid System entered into force in 2013, Mexican trademark proceedings went through some amendments including the implementation of a formal opposition system that was approved by the Senate in December 2015.

This change was necessary, among other reasons, due to Madrid System´s demand regarding final refusals or rejections. Specifically, they must be issued within the term of 12 months from the local designation of the International Registrar. In this way, the opposition system shall allow the examiner to count on additional information regarding third party interests that may be affected. This will help to determine whether the new application can be registered or not, thus avoiding weak criteria in the assessment of the cases with the sole purpose of meeting the corresponding terms.