New Regional Court for Intellectual Property Matters at the Federal Court for Fiscal and Administrative Justice

On December 3, 2008, an en banc decree from the Superior Chamber of the Federal Court for Fiscal andAdministrative Justice provides such court the jurisdiction to adjudicate appeals challenging rulings issued by theMexican Institute of Intellectual Property (IMPI), the agency responsible for ruling on matters concerningtrademarks, patents, and intellectual property rights, starting on January 5, 2009, pursuant to the FederalAdministrative Litigation Procedure Law. Such appeals shall be carried out in administrative proceedings, alsocalled actions for annulment. Previously, a non-prevailing party in any ruling issued by the IMPI was required tofile a lawsuit within 45 business days at one of the Regional Metropolitan Chambers of the Court when theGovernment Defendant is located in the Federal District, and such court determined the jurisdiction of theChambers. The decree described above addresses the problem arising from a saturation of the eleven RegionalChambers of the Metropolitan Court mentioned above. Such saturation delayed actions for annulment in any ofthe Regional Metropolitan Chambers for up to three years before a judgment was issued. Given the above, theSuperior Chamber of the Federal Court for Fiscal and Administrative Justice approved en banc the formation of anew Regional Chamber for Intellectual Property matters which is based in Mexico City, Federal District, for thepurpose of adjudicating only those matters concerning intellectual property and copyrights. Pursuant to suchdecree, any appeal of intellectual property matters will be required to be heard before this new Chamber. Thenew Chamber will be located at Insurgentes Sur Avenue #881, 8th Floor, Napoles District, Mexico, FederalDistrict, and the ongoing cases at the Regional Chambers that have not been adjudicated as of November 30,2008 will be transferred to this new Specialized Regional Chamber. Positive results are expected from thisreorganization since a specialized Chamber with exclusive jurisdiction in this subject matter may result in thetimely adjudication of appeals with the profound analysis that this subject matter requires.