The Mexican Patent and Trademark Office (IMPI) continues to update its electronic services and to provide options to trade mark and patent applicants and owners. These efforts are especially relevant during the current COVID-19 pandemic, as Laura Collada of the MARQUES International Trade Mark Law and Practice Team explains.

IMPI suspended deadlines and closed to the public by the end of March 2020. Only new applications submitted using the online filing system were possible. Since then, three significant electronic capabilities have been enabled.

In April 2020, IMPI allowed users to submit writs, responses to office actions, payments of grant and maintenance fees, etc for all patent and trade mark files which were originally submitted using the IMPI’s electronic system.

In May 2020, an electronic reception desk for trade marks was also launched. This service allows users to submit any action or document related to a trade mark file independently whether or not its prosecution was initiated on paper.

This month, IMPI launched a new tool for patents, utility models and industrial designs allowing the conversion from physical paper files to completely electronic files through a request to be performed on the IMPI’s platform. Unlike paper files, electronic files accept the submission of responses to office actions, voluntary amendments/writs, and payment of grant and maintenance fees at any time, including non-working days, such as the current ones in which deadlines are suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The conversion takes from three to five days from the date of request to be accepted and, once authorised, it is irreversible.

The service is available to all patent, utility model and industrial design files either pending or granted provided the representative requesting the conversion is enabled by the IMPI’s directory to carry out electronic actions on behalf of applicants/owners.

It is important to highlight that even though all these e-services have been enabled during the current pandemic, they are not temporary, as they have been envisioned on a long-term basis.  

Laura Collada is a Partner of Dumont Bergman Bider & Co., S.C. and a member of the MARQUES International Trade Mark Law and Practice Team