How to Register a Trademark in Mexico (IMPI): Steps, Deadlines and the Year-3 Declaration of Use

To register a trademark in Mexico, you file an application with the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI), one class of goods or services per application. IMPI publishes it in the Industrial Property Gazette within 10 business days, anyone can oppose it for one month, and IMPI then examines it, including a check against earlier marks. Since 4 April 2026 the law gives IMPI a maximum of 5 months from filing to decide an application that receives no objection and no opposition. The registration lasts 10 years from the date it is granted, and marks granted since 10 August 2018 must file a declaration of use within the 3 months after the third anniversary of the grant, or the registration lapses automatically. Applicants abroad also need an address in Mexico for notifications, which is how we register trademarks in Mexico for clients outside the country.

Checked on 17 October 2026 against the Federal Law for the Protection of Industrial Property (LFPPI) as last amended in the Official Gazette (DOF) on 3 April 2026, its new Regulations (DOF 28 April 2026), IMPI’s official procedure page and FAQ, and WIPO. Each deadline below cites its article. Official fees change every year, so they are not listed here.

Mexican trademark registration at a glance

Step	What happens	Legal deadline	Source
1. Filing	Online through IMPI’s “Marca en Línea” service or on paper, in Spanish, one class per application. The filing date sets priority between conflicting applications	—	LFPPI arts. 13, 214, 220; Regulations art. 108
2. Publication	The application (number, filing date, sign and class) is published in the Industrial Property Gazette	Within 10 business days of filing	LFPPI art. 221; Regulations art. 112
3. Opposition window	Anyone with an interest can oppose. A late opposition is dismissed outright	1 month, cannot be extended	LFPPI art. 221
4. Formal and substantive examination	IMPI checks the formalities, then whether the mark is registrable, including conflicts with earlier marks	Starts when the opposition month ends	LFPPI art. 225
5. Office action or notice of opposition	You answer the objections or the opposition. With no answer, the application is considered abandoned	2 months, plus 2 more without asking (paying the fee for the month you answer)	LFPPI arts. 225, 226
6. Decision	Registration certificate (título) issued and published in the Gazette	5 months from filing if there was no office action and no opposition; otherwise within 5 months after the final arguments	LFPPI arts. 229, 229 Bis, 230, 232
7. Declaration of use	You declare that the mark is in real and effective use, listing the goods or services	Within the 3 months after the 3rd anniversary of the grant	LFPPI art. 233
8. Renewal	Renewal plus a new declaration of use	Every 10 years from the grant: in the 6 months before expiry, or the 6 months after	LFPPI arts. 178, 237

Deadlines in days count business days only; deadlines in months run from date to date, including non-business days (LFPPI art. 21). IMPI’s own figures for the whole procedure are “5 months” on its official procedure page and “up to six months from the filing date” in its FAQ, last updated in 2022; an office action or an opposition makes it longer.

What the April 2026 reform changed, and what it did not

The decree published in the DOF on 3 April 2026, in force the next day, rewrote large parts of the LFPPI under the heading of simplifying registrations. Applications that were already pending are finished under the rules in force when they started. For trademarks, the changes are:

Point	Before 4 April 2026	Since 4 April 2026	Article
Time limit to decide a clean application	No legal maximum	5 months from filing, if there is no office action and no opposition	229 Bis (new)
Time limit after final arguments	No legal maximum	Decision within 5 months	229
Time limit to decide a renewal	No legal maximum	3 months from the renewal request	237
If IMPI misses those limits	No specific remedy	You can ask IMPI’s specialised technical committee to start a mandatory-decision procedure; the decision must then issue within 10 business days	327 Bis to 327 Quater (new)
Order of examination	“The examination”	Formal examination first, then substantive examination	225
Types of marks	Up to trade dress and combinations	Adds position, motion and multimedia marks	172, sections VIII-X
Grounds for refusal	—	Adds generic or common elements lacking distinctiveness, and the cultural heritage of Indigenous and Afro-Mexican peoples	173, sections I Bis and XXIII
Application form	Name and address of the applicant	Name, address and email address	214

What did not change: the automatic lapse for a missing year-3 declaration of use. It has been in article 233 since the LFPPI was first published on 1 July 2020; the 2026 decree only rewrote that article in gender-neutral language. The same goes for non-use (article 235). Separately, new LFPPI Regulations were published on 28 April 2026, replacing the 1994 Regulations from 60 business days after publication.

Before you file: IMPI does check earlier marks

Unlike some offices that leave conflicts to third parties, IMPI examines on its own whether your sign is identical or confusingly similar to an earlier application or a registered mark for the same or similar goods or services (LFPPI arts. 173, section XVIII, and 225). An opposition is an extra layer, and it does not decide the examination by itself (art. 224). The practical consequence: a conflict found after filing costs you months and, if the application is refused, the filing itself.

The law requires IMPI’s records to be searchable free of charge online (art. 22). IMPI runs two tools: MARCia (marcia.impi.gob.mx) and the classic Marcanet, which offers searches by name, phonetic similarity, logo, application or registration number, and international registration. You can also check conflicts through our Mexico trademark search. If an earlier mark blocks yours, the owner’s written consent can overcome that ground (art. 173, final paragraphs).

What the application needs

• Applicant’s name, address and email address (art. 214, section I).
• The sign as it will be used, with a translation if it is in a language other than Spanish and a transliteration if it uses non-Latin characters (Regulations art. 105).
• The date of first use in Mexico, or a statement that the mark has not been used yet (art. 214).
• Specific goods or services from a single Nice class, with the class number (Regulations arts. 94, 105 and 108). Mexico uses the 45 classes of the Nice Classification; a mark for goods in two classes needs two applications. After registration, goods can be removed but never added, even within the same class (art. 177).
• Everything in Spanish, with translations of any document in another language (art. 13), and apostille or legalisation of foreign documents where applicable (Regulations art. 11).
• An address for notifications in Mexico and an email address, in every application (art. 17).
• A power of attorney if a representative files: a simple one signed before two witnesses, in Mexico or abroad, is enough (art. 27).
• Priority claim, optional: if you filed the same mark abroad in the last 6 months, you can claim that earlier date (art. 218), giving the country, number and date (Regulations art. 111).

Filing from abroad: do you need a Mexican agent?

The LFPPI does not oblige foreign applicants to hire an agent: applications are signed by the applicant or a representative (arts. 14 and 27). What it does require of everyone is an address in Mexico for notifications (art. 17) and Spanish-language filings (art. 13). IMPI notifies its decisions and office actions through the Gazette (arts. 19 and 20), and missing a 2-month answer deadline abandons the application. That combination is why owners based abroad usually file through a representative in Mexico who provides the address and watches the Gazette. Mexico can also be reached through the Madrid Protocol (see below).

What you can register as a trademark in Mexico

A trademark is any sign perceptible by the senses that can be represented clearly enough to define what is protected (art. 171). Article 172 lists:

Type	Examples	Section of art. 172
Word, figurative and combined	Words, letters, numbers, logos, colour combinations, holograms	I, XI
Three-dimensional	Shapes and packaging	II
Names	Trade names, company names, a person’s own name	III, IV
Sound and smell	Jingles, scents	V, VI
Trade dress	The combination of size, design, colour, label, packaging or decoration of a product or a business	VII
Position, motion, multimedia	New since 4 April 2026	VIII-X

Collective marks (arts. 179-182) and certification marks (arts. 183-186) have their own rules. A slogan (aviso comercial) is a separate registration, also valid for 10 years from the grant (art. 204).

If IMPI objects or someone opposes

• Answer within 2 months. IMPI gives you 2 months to respond to formal requirements, oppositions or grounds for refusal (art. 225).
• 2 extra months, automatically. You do not need to request them; you pay the fee for the month in which you answer (art. 226). With no answer, the application is abandoned.
• Do not change the mark. Modifying the sign or adding goods turns the application into a new one (art. 227).
• Final arguments and decision. You and any opponent get 5 days for final arguments, and IMPI must then decide within 5 months (art. 229).
• Refusals must give reasons (art. 230).

The year-3 declaration of use

This is the step that catches owners out. Under article 233, the owner must declare the real and effective use of the mark in Mexico, listing the specific goods or services, within the 3 months after the third anniversary of the grant. If the declaration is not filed, the registration lapses by operation of law, without any decision from IMPI (arts. 233, 260 and 263). Protection continues only for the goods and services on which use was declared.

• Which marks owe it: registrations granted on or after 10 August 2018. Registrations granted earlier are exempt from the year-3 declaration (LFPPI transitional article eleven, 2020; IMPI FAQ), but they still declare use when they renew.
• What counts as use: the goods or services are on the market in Mexico under the mark, in the quantity and manner usual in that trade; goods made for export also count (Regulations art. 121). Use by a licensee counts as use by the owner (art. 244).
• A note on wording: IMPI’s FAQ calls the 3 months a grace period (“prórroga”); in the law they are the filing window itself. Do not plan on any time beyond them.

An example with a registration granted on 15 June 2026:

Event	Date	Rule
Third anniversary of the grant	15 June 2029	Art. 233
Last day for the declaration of use	15 September 2029	Art. 233 (3 months)
Renewal window opens	15 December 2035	Art. 237 (6 months before expiry)
Registration expires	15 June 2036	Art. 178 (10 years from the grant)
Last day to renew late	15 December 2036	Art. 237 (6 months after expiry)

Renewal and non-use

A Mexican registration lasts 10 years from the date of grant, not from the filing date, and can be renewed for further 10-year periods (art. 178). The renewal is filed in the 6 months before expiry, and IMPI still accepts it in the 6 months after (art. 237). Every renewal includes a declaration of use; if it is missing, IMPI gives 2 months to supply it and the registration otherwise lapses. If no renewal is filed in time, the registration lapses automatically (art. 238). You can arrange it through our Mexico trademark renewal service.

Non-use works differently. A mark not used for 3 consecutive years on the registered goods or services can be cancelled in whole or in part, but only through an administrative proceeding started by IMPI, a third party or the federal public prosecutor (arts. 235, 260 and 263); use during the 3 years immediately before the request, or circumstances beyond the owner’s control, are defences. Using ® or “M.R.” on goods the mark is not registered for is prohibited (art. 236).

The Madrid Protocol route

Mexico has been part of the Madrid System since 19 February 2013, so an owner with a home application or registration can designate Mexico in an international registration filed through its own office (WIPO Information Notice 24/2012). Mexico declared an 18-month period, instead of 12, to notify a provisional refusal. For the first 5 years the international registration depends on the home mark: if that is refused or lapses, protection in Mexico falls with it (Madrid Protocol art. 6). Since April 2025, IMPI issues a registration certificate for international registrations once protection is granted (WIPO, 28 April 2025). Our guide to national vs international trademark registration compares the two routes.

Four claims about Mexican trademarks that are wrong

What you may read	What the law says
“The opposition period is 30 business days”	One month, which cannot be extended (art. 221)
“The 10 years run from the filing date”	From the date of grant (art. 178)
“Foreigners must hire a Mexican agent”	The law requires an address for notifications in Mexico, not an agent (arts. 14, 17, 27)
“The 2026 reform introduced the automatic lapse for the declaration of use”	It has been in article 233 since 2020; the reform only changed the wording

What Protect.TM handles for a Mexican trademark

1. Comprehensive Trademark Study before filing: conflict detection with severity ratings, an attorney-reviewed registrability analysis and a Low, Medium or High risk rating, delivered within one business day.
2. Filing with IMPI by licensed trademark attorneys, with a filing report showing the application number, filing date and a scanned copy of the application, and online tracking. A simple power of attorney is enough, and it can be sent after filing.
3. Office actions and oppositions are quoted separately, with the recommended strategy, before any further step.
4. Renewal when the 10 years come round.

Start with a trademark search in Mexico, or go straight to trademark registration in Mexico.