Divisional Patent Applications

While the current Mexican IP law is silent about the conditions and deadlines to file and accept divisional patent applications, the practice regarding those applications in Mexico is as follows:

• Voluntary divisional applications can be filed at any stage during prosecution prior to the payment of the grant fee or the issuance of the Final Rejection for the parent application.
• Sequences of divisional applications, also known as cascade divisional applications, are accepted without any restriction regarding the number of divisional applications that can be filed.
• Divisional applications resulting from a requirement of the Mexican Patent and Trademark Office (MXPTO) can be filed when responding to the office action objecting the lack of unity of invention. Nevertheless, they are also accepted before the payment of the grant fee or the issuance of the Final Rejection for the parent application.