The Mexican Institute of Intellectual Property (IMPI, for its acronym in Spanish) has always been very active inentering into international agreements for the increased protection of intellectual property rights. Recently, IMPIexecuted an agreement with the United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO). The agreement aims toincrease the growth of innovation and creativity of Mexico and Great Britain, while allowing both countries toshare better practices when enforcing intellectual property rights. The goal of this agreement is to support smalland mid-size industries in both countries, which contribute to economic development by means of the innovationof new technology. Moreover, in the area of copyright and particularly software, IMPI entered into agreementswith the Business Software Alliance Mexico (BSA) and the Mexican Institute of Public Accountants (IMPC, forits acronym in Spanish) in order to undertake a strategy to promote the legal use of software in companiesoperating in Mexico under a campaign titled, “What’s in your system?” (¿Qué traes en tu sistema?). The purposeof this agreement is for the parties involved to jointly carry out legal actions against the use, sale and distributionof bootleg software, as well as the widespread dissemination of information regarding the legal, financial and taxrisks related to the illegal use of software. Mexico has notably stepped up efforts to promote the legal use ofsoftware and thus the IMPI has been more engaged in the task of making regular visits to various companies inorder to verify the licensed use of software, thereby promoting its legal use. A company that is found not to havethe requisite software licenses may be prosecuted with extremely serious economic consequences. The illegal useof software is certainly widespread in many countries. Mexico, however, is making major efforts to eradicatesuch improper usage. Consequently, it is important that companies working in Mexico carefully review theirlicensing and, if necessary, make proper arrangements to obtain corresponding authorizations from softwareowners.
