A new solution for trade mark filing errors

October 1, 2012

by Liliana Rojas

Usually when our Trademark Office issues a Registration Certificate containing an error, the mistake can be amended by filing a brief requesting the correction enclosing the original certificate and the filing application. But when the mistake was committed by the applicant it is a complete different story.

Our Trademark Office used to accept a brief requesting the correction. An affidavit issued by an authorized officer or other document evidencing the correct name of owner/address would be helpful to support the petition. Nonetheless, over the past few years our Trademark Office started to reject said petitions under the argument that no proceeding to correct mistakes, even clerical ones, was provided in the Industrial Property Law (IPL) or its regulations.

In view of the above, the available option was to request the correction based in the Federal Law of Administrative Procedure (FLAP).

 

The FLAP is a federal administrative law that provides a general frame for any administrative proceeding made by most of the Mexican Administrative Agencies. Upon this law its provisions must be applied by the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property. Any mistake made by either applicant or the government when issuing the corresponding Registration Certificate or any other administrative decision may be corrected upon petition of the interested parts.

Considering that our Trademark Office would have to stand a new criterion in regard to this type of approach, the first official responses to the corrections based in FLAP take time to be issued, however, the result was satisfactory and the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property is now taking note of the requested corrections.

Source Managing Intellectual Property Magazine, Oct 2012