Recently, the Mexican law firm OLIVARES reported that Mexico published amendments to the Federal Law for the Protection of Industrial Property (FLPIP) on April 3, 2026. Multiple adjustments made in these amendments will have an impact on patent application and examination strategies in the country. The report noted that these amendments incorporate mechanisms commonly adopted in other jurisdictions and introduce new procedural tools, aiming to enhance the flexibility, legal certainty, and efficiency of the Mexican patent system.

The adjustments that will impact Mexican patent practice include:

· Restoration of Priority: Allowing applicants to restore priority within 2 months after the expiration of the original term (i.e., the original term for patents and utility models is 12 months, and for industrial designs is 6 months). The report stated that this adjustment aligns Mexico with international practices that provide remedial measures for priority claims. It is worth noting that OLIVARES mentioned in another alert that the FLPIP amendments did not involve the applicable deadlines for the national phase entry of Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applications, but indicated that this latest amendment may open a channel for Mexico to revisit and potentially lift current restrictions on national phase applications.

· Provisional Patent Applications: Allowing applicants to request an earlier filing date in a simplified form, followed by the submission of complete application documents within a non-extendable 12-month period. Mexican provisional patent applications may not claim priority from any earlier application, will not be published, and will not undergo substantive examination.

· Priority Documents: Allowing the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI) to require applicants to submit certified priority documents and their Spanish translations within 5 working days after the expiration of the current deadline (i.e., 3 months from the filing date).

· Restoration of Procedural Rights: Allowing applicants to apply for the restoration of rights lost due to failure to complete relevant procedures within the deadline, including cases such as failing to respond to an office action or failing to pay grant fees. The request for restoration of rights must be submitted within 15 working days after the expiration of the deadline (calculated from the day following the expiration), while simultaneously completing the omitted procedures and paying the corresponding official fees. If the request is approved, IMPI will allow the application to continue the examination process. The report stated that this adjustment marks a shift in the Mexican patent system compared to the old system—under the old system, once a patent application was deemed abandoned, it was final and irrevocable.

· Shortening Examination Timeframes and Limiting the Number of Office Actions: To accelerate IMPI's examination process, the amendments stipulate that for patent, utility model, and industrial design applications, the maximum period for making a final decision is 1 year from the commencement of substantive examination. If no ruling has been made upon the expiration of the 1-year period, the applicant may apply for a mandatory ruling through a Specialized Technical Committee newly established and appointed by the IMPI Board of Governors. The maximum 1-year examination timeframe applies to patent applications submitted after the publication of the amendments. For applications submitted before the publication of the amendments that are currently under examination, applicants may also apply for a mandatory ruling once the Specialized Technical Committee is established.

Regarding the aforementioned changes, OLIVARES provides the following opinions:

Although the measures to shorten the examination period have been recognized, there is general doubt within the industry as to whether IMPI can handle the significant increase in workload, as well as concerns over whether the shortened timeframe will trigger a large number of requests for mandatory rulings from applicants. At the same time, the industry is also concerned that the compression of the examination period may lead to a decline in the quality of substantive office actions.

In addition to the maximum 1-year examination period, OLIVARES pointed out in another alert last month that an amendment to administrative regulations published in the Official Gazette of the Federation in March 2026 reduced the number of substantive office actions for patent and utility model applications from 4 to 2. Following the first two office actions, a third office action will be issued to grant or refuse the application. The administrative regulation amendment reducing the number of office actions took effect on March 12, 2026, but does not apply to applications submitted before the effective date of the amendment; such applications will continue to be examined according to the rules in force at the time of submission.

Third-Party Observations: Allowing the public to submit third-party observations for utility model and industrial design applications within 2 months from the date of publication. Under the old system, third-party observations could only be submitted for patent applications.

The report noted that the aforementioned amendments took effect the day following their publication, while pending applications will still be examined according to the legal framework in effect at the time of their submission. One of the alerts also mentioned that since the implementing regulations for the new Industrial Property Law have not yet been promulgated, they are expected to be published in the near future.