MEXICO: An Introduction to Intellectual Property

Current Economic Conditions Affecting Clients or the Legal Profession

Mexico remains one of the world’s 15 largest economies and is the second largest in Latin America. Its most significant trade partner continues to be the United States, which receives nearly 80% of Mexico’s exports.

Following a modest slowdown in 2023, the Mexican economy showed signs of stabilisation in early 2025. Economic analysts had anticipated a deceleration due to tighter monetary policy and external factors such as reduced US demand. However, resilient domestic consumption, sustained remittance inflows, and the ongoing trend of nearshoring have contributed to maintaining moderate growth momentum.

According to the most recent data from Mexico’s national statistics institute and Bloomberg projections, Mexico's GDP grew by 2.4% in 2024, slightly below the 3% expansion seen in 2022 but in line with regional and global economic trends. Growth in 2024 was driven largely by the services sector and continued investment in manufacturing linked to North American supply chains.

Key Economic Indicators and Sector Performance

Key indicators included the following:

• agriculture continued to perform strongly, expanding by 5.8% in 2024 year-over-year;
• manufacturing grew by 2.7%, bolstered by US demand and nearshoring trends, despite global trade uncertainties;
• the services sector – which accounts for nearly 60% of GDP and employs over 60% of the workforce – grew by 3.1%;
• the technology and software development sectors remain on an upward trajectory, supported by competitive labour costs and growing tech clusters; and
• tourism and medical services rebounded significantly, though not yet to pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels, with domestic travel and medical tourism from the USA providing a strong base.

While Mexico’s GDP surpassed pre-pandemic levels in absolute terms in 2023, per capita GDP still lags behind 2018 levels by approximately 3.9% as of early 2025. Recovery on a per capita basis is now projected to complete around 2026–2027, depending on inflation and population growth trends.

Monetary Policy and Inflation Outlook

The Bank of Mexico has signalled the end of its tightening cycle, as inflation has steadily declined from its 2022–2023 peaks. This has opened the door for potential interest rate cuts in late 2025, depending on continued price stabilisation. Lower rates are expected to support credit expansion, investment and consumer spending in the second half of the year.

Nearshoring and Foreign Investment

The nearshoring trend remains a key driver of economic activity. Multinational companies continue to relocate or expand operations in Mexico to gain proximity to the US market, diversify supply chains, and capitalise on Mexico’s skilled labour force and competitive costs. This movement has fuelled growth in states such as Nuevo León, Jalisco and the Bajío region, reinforcing the role of industrial corridors.

Level of Activity, Trends and Developments

According to the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (MIIP), in 2024, the number of inventions and distinctive signs submitted was as follows:

• inventions – 20,968; and
• distinctive signs– 220,806.

(This information was obtained from the database of the MIIP.)

On 5 November 2020, the new Federal Law for the Protection of Industrial Property (FLPIP) entered into force, and substituted the Industrial Property Law. The Mexican Congress enacted this Law to comply with Mexico's obligations under recently executed international treaties, such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTTP) and the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

Given the new FLPIP, there is certainly better enforcement of IP rights with the possibility of claiming damages in a faster way, without having to wait for a final and non-appealable resolution of the MIIP (as explained below).

Additionally, considering the increase of the use of e-commerce, more litigation cases are expected related to this method of commercialising infringing/counterfeit goods.

New Legislation That Will Affect Clients

As mentioned above, the FLPIP has entered into force and brings several benefits for trade mark holders – for example, the holder of an affected right now has the possibility of claiming damages through the following two independent actions:

• before the MIIP, by filing a parallel procedure (incidental), once the plaintiff obtains a favourable decision declaring infringement conduct; or
• directly before the civil courts by filing a civil or mercantile lawsuit – in this scenario, the procedure may be suspended, if the counterparty files (as a counterclaim) a cancellation or invalidation action against the plaintiff’s registration, which will be resolved by the Trade Mark Office.

The Federal Copyright Law (FCL) was also amended on 1 July 2020, as part of Mexico's aforementioned obligations under international treaties, and now establishes the procedure known as “Notice and Take Down”.

This procedure obliges online service providers, websites, platforms or internet search engines to remove and deny access to any infringing material, work or content upon receiving a notice from the corresponding copyright holder.

These recent amendments are certainly having an important impact on the IP system.

Potential Hurdles or Difficulties Faced by Clients, and How These Can Be Overcome

With the increase of e-commerce, the biggest challenge is how to know that a product is being commercialised in e-commerce that infringes the trade mark holder's rights – especially if they are not aware that their trade mark is being used by a non-authorised party – and how they can take any action to protect themselves.

Therefore, a successful first step for the authors is to register our client’s trade marks in the database of various platforms, and to conduct a periodic surveillance of:

• any counterfeit product;
• any foreign product that may use a confusingly similar trade mark; and
• any unauthorised sale of its products.

Upon detecting any violation of one of our clients’ trade mark registrations, we may implement several actions, including:

• sending a cease-and-desist letter directly to the unauthorised party selling the infringing product; and
• requesting the platform to remove the infringing product, through the process operated by the platform in question.

By taking the actions mentioned, our clients have overcome challenges resulting from the increase of e-commerce.

On the patent system side, one hurdle that applicants currently face is implementing effective strategies for protecting complex inventions, as the acceptance of second-generation divisional applications has been restricted. Therefore, the necessary steps for securing comprehensive protection must be taken early, during the prosecution of the initial application.

Summary

Despite external headwinds and a moderation in growth following the post-pandemic rebound, Mexico’s economic outlook in 2025 remains cautiously optimistic. Nearshoring, a diversified industrial base, and strong ties to the US economy continue to offer opportunities for both local and foreign businesses. However, challenges such as insecurity, infrastructure gaps and judicial uncertainty still pose structural risks that may affect investor confidence and long-term growth.