Mexico’s Industrial Property Law has for many years contemplated the various violations for which one could besubject to sanctions in relation to the use of intellectual property rights of third parties. The most typical causesseem to always be related to the improper use of patent or trademark rights that have been duly protected throughlegal registration with Mexico’s intellectual property authorities. Article 213 of the Intellectual Property Lawestablishes 27 different bases for administrative violations. Within such list is section XXVI, which sanctionsparties for unfair competition in using distinctive symbols that cause confusion, mistake or deceit of the generalpublic with respect to equal or similar protected goods and services. In this way, duly registered intellectualproperty rights are protected, and not only “equal” or “similarly in grade of confusion”, as was the case years ago,except for those that may create confusion in the mind of the general public. As such, one may avoid incombination of images, operative elements and/or distinctive symbols (“trade dress”) which could causeconfusion with respect to any protected good or service.
