The Protection Of Olfactive Marks In Mexico

Before the modifications to the Mexican Industrial Property Law (the IP Law) on May 18, 2018, the article 88 of this Law defined a mark as being a “visible sign” capable to distinguish products or services from others of the same type or category on the market. Thus, to be subject of protection as a mark, a sign had to be both distinctive and visually perceptible.

As we know, this definition of mark excludes from protection all non-visible signs, and the article following the mentioned above, article 89, confirm this by listing some visually perceptible signs as the ones that could constitute marks and receive protection through a mark registration, namely, words and visible figures, three-dimen- sional shapes, trade names and company or business names, and the proper name of a natural person.