Restrictions for the Title of the Invention – Federal Law for the Protection of Industrial Property

September 24, 2020

According with the new Federal Law for the Protection of Industrial Property (new IP Law), which will enter in force in November 5, 2020, the title of the invention must be short, precise and indicate the nature of the invention.

Furthermore, the title of the invention must be written with the terminology of the invention´s technical field, without the possibility of including distinctive signs, imaginative expressions or names, proper names or commercial indications.

These requirements were formerly established in the IP Regulations; however, with the entry in force of the new IP Law, the legislators took the opportunity to include these requirements as a legal rule in order to make the new IP Law consistent with the Regulations, avoiding the submission of arguments during the prosecution of patent applications in the sense that the Regulations exceed the requirements of the IP Law.

The title of the invention will be reviewed during the formal examination of the application.

If the title of the invention does not comply with the above mentioned requirements, the Mexican Patent Office (MPO) will issue an official communication, granting the applicant a two-month deadline, automatically extendible for two more months, to correct the title of the invention.

If the title of the invention is not corrected, then the application will be deemed as abandoned.