Mexican Patent Litigation, International Intellectual Property Treaties and the Extension of Patent Term of Protection

This article analyzes how the provisions on patent term adjustments contained in the new United States-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement (USMCA) will be problematic for Mexico. To illustrate this point, the article revisits a patent litigation in Mexico. The plaintiff was a Japanese company who was suing over the infringement of its rights by a Mexican Lab. In this case, Transitional Article Twelve of the Mexican Industrial Property Act was applied to recognize a priority filing date seven years later than its original filing in Japan. The litigation involved several issues such as the extension of the term of protection and the alleged infringement by the defendant after the authorities had extended the term of the patent. There are several principles and concerns discussed, including the principle of patent independence, national treatment, and minimum term of protection, all of which are contained in the Paris Convention, the TRIPS Agreement, and the Patent Cooperation Treaty.