Treatment Methods And Their Patentability In Mexico - Overview

The exclusion from patentability of treatment methods is not an exclusive topic belonging to a particular legislation, but a generalized topic shared by several legislations around the world. The Mexican legislation is not an exception. The current Mexican Industrial Property Law (MIPL), in its Article 19 Section VII, clearly indicates that surgical, therapeutic and diagnosis methods applicable to the human body and those related to animals are considered to be non-patentable inventions.

Based on the above regulation, it is very common that the Mexican authorities of the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI, by its initials in Spanish), during the substantive examination of patent applications, reject any claim which shows evidence that its contents could be related with the methods expressly excluded from patentability by the Mexican legislation,. Hence, in order to determine if a claimed