Mexico has no single patent search box. IMPI, the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property, publishes patent information in two free tools, SIGA and ViDoc, and international databases such as PATENTSCOPE and Google Patents cover part of the same ground. Which one you use depends on the question you are asking.
Which tool for which question
| You want to know | Use | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| What IMPI has published: applications, grants, notices | SIGA | IMPI’s Industrial Property Gazette, searchable by entry or with operators |
| What is inside a specific patent file | ViDoc | Viewer for public IMPI file documents, searchable by metadata |
| Whether something similar exists anywhere, Mexico included | PATENTSCOPE (WIPO) and Google Patents | International databases, both in English |
Step by step
- Start broad in PATENTSCOPE or Google Patents with keywords and classification codes. Both work in English and cover many countries at once. If you have not used Google Patents for this, our guide to Google Patents for US and Mexican searches walks through it.
- Check the Gazette in SIGA for Mexican publications. Use “Búsqueda en fichas” for simple terms, or “Búsqueda especializada” to combine fields with operators.
- Open the file in ViDoc once you have an application or patent number, to read the documents IMPI holds.
- Check whether the patent is still in force. A Mexican patent lasts 20 years from filing and depends on paying each annual fee (LFPPI art. 53).
What a free search will not tell you
A keyword search finds documents that use your words. Patents are often written in deliberately different terms, so the closest prior art can sit under words you did not try.
A search also does not tell you whether your invention is patentable, or whether making or selling it in Mexico would infringe someone else’s patent. Those are legal opinions. A professional search adds what a database cannot: an interpretation of the claims of granted patents, which is what shows whether a product or process falls inside a Mexican patent.
IMPI’s own search services
IMPI also sells search services under its official tariff, including a report on the state of the art in a specific technical field. Ask IMPI for the current fee before ordering one, because tariffs change.
Need a patent search done properly?
We search Mexican and international patent literature for foreign companies before they file or launch in Mexico, for patentability or freedom to operate. Each search is quoted separately: the work depends on the type of invention and the technical field. If the search supports filing, see how patent registration in Mexico works.
Describe the invention in a few lines and tell us whether you plan to file or to launch: request a patent search.
