It almost always surfaces the same way: you search for your name and someone else’s filing comes up. Or a demand letter arrives. The first question is whether you have lost the brand, and the answer depends on where things stand right now.

This guide explains how to check, which remedy fits each situation under Mexico’s Federal Law for the Protection of Industrial Property, and which decisions depend on the clock.

First: check what is actually on file

Before assuming anything, look at the file itself. A name appearing online, on social media or in the commercial registry does not mean it is registered as a trademark at IMPI, the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property. Those are different things.

What you need to find out from the file:

  • Whether there is a pending application or a granted registration. They are not the same, and the available actions change.
  • Which classes of the Nice Classification it covers. A trademark only protects the goods or services in the classes it was registered for.
  • What date it carries. Mexico protects whoever filed for registration first.

Second: not every situation is the same

Is it still pending and published?

If the third party’s application has been published and the window is still open, you can file an opposition. The IMPI tariff charges MXN $4,296.74 including VAT, about US$245, per opposition (Article 14 b).

The opposition window has a deadline, and that deadline cannot be recovered. That is why the file should be checked the same day you find out, not the following week.

It has already been granted

Once the registration is granted, opposition is no longer available. The options become the nullity or cancellation actions provided by law, depending on the ground. Which one applies depends on specific facts: who used the mark first, since when, how widely, and with what evidence.

This is where it stops being a guide and becomes a case. The ground you invoke determines the deadline, and some of those deadlines have a fixed end date.

It is your supplier, your distributor or a former partner

This is more common than people expect, especially with foreign brands entering Mexico. The law provides for specific situations where the person who registered had a prior relationship with the real owner. If that is your case, say so in the first conversation, because it changes the strategy completely.

Third: what you can do today, whatever the case ends up costing

Gather evidence of your earlier use and date it. Invoices, contracts, advertising, screenshots with verifiable dates, domain registrations, social media accounts. In a trademark dispute, the date you can prove is what decides.

Do not stop using your brand out of fear. Ask first, because stopping can weaken your position.

Do not send a letter yourself. A poorly drafted demand can admit facts that later work against you.

How to avoid it next time

The boring answer is the one that works: search before you invest in the name, register before you launch, and watch afterwards.

If you received a refusal instead of a conflict

If your problem is not a third party registering your brand but IMPI refusing yours, that is a different scenario with its own deadlines. We cover it in IMPI provisional refusal.

What we need to tell you something useful

In a consultation we can place your situation if you bring the exact name of the mark, the goods or services you use it for, since when, and how you found out about the third party’s filing.

All fees quoted are IMPI’s official fees, taken from the tariff published in the Diario Oficial de la Federación, and do not include professional fees. USD is approximate, converted at the Banxico FIX rate of 17.5130 MXN per USD published on 24 July 2026. The peso amount is what is actually charged.