Advancements in technology have made infringers better at evading detection and prosecution; as a result there has been a significant increase in copyrights piracy, products counterfeiting, and trademarks infringement that has forced brand owners to take more innovative approaches to intellectual property enforcement.

At Arochi & Lindner, we enforce the intellectual property rights of our clients in matters ranging from counterfeiting and piracy to comprehensive and consistent programs that include preventive and corrective actions. On one hand, we provide counseling services for strategizing, consulting, preparing, and implementing all preventative measures to protect IP rights including investigation services as well as educational programs and trainings for authorities. Moreover, we carry out all necessary actions to enforce those rights, both legal and extrajudicial, including criminal actions, administrative remedies, civil proceedings for claiming damages; border measures; drafting and serving C&D letters.

Our anti-counterfeiting and antipiracy team works in close cooperation with Customs, the police, prosecutors, and the courts to coordinate rapid and efficient actions. Our attorneys have extensive experience in uncovering counterfeiting, gathering criminal evidence, and then bringing criminal proceedings with a view to obtaining convictions and damages in a timely and expeditious manner.

Market surveillance

We periodically conduct visits to the most important local markets with the aim of updating the information regarding the import, manufacture, and distribution of counterfeit/pirated goods.

Online investigations

We constantly monitor Internet to identify both the sales and the promotion of counterfeit and pirated goods in e-commerce and auction sites as well as social media platforms.

Awareness campaigns

We help conduct public awareness campaigns to eradicate piracy consumption and to promote the knowledge about Intellectual Property rights in cooperation with the correspondent authorities.

Educating and training programs

We conduct training programs that provide to the legal action agents and custom agents the necessary knowledge to combat piracy of goods including a basic set of guidelines to identify counterfeit and pirated goods and differentiate it from the originals.

Border measures

We provide a complete strategy to prevent and fight piracy from different fronts. From the registration of trademarks in the Mexican Customs database to obtaining seizure orders to detain counterfeit goods through administrative infringement actions before the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI) for trademark infringement or via criminal proceedings before the Federal Attorney General‘s Office for trademark counterfeiting.

Raids

We assist our clients with the execution of raids. Our service include conducting exhaustive investigations to identify significant targets in terms of both, importance of the chain of distribution and the amount of counterfeit products in stock; filing criminal complaints before the Attorney General’s Office of Mexico to obtain the search warrants and execute the raids with the corresponding authorities to seize the counterfeit / pirated goods.

Customs is a major point of entrance of counterfeit products into Mexico. As the first filter, it is the best chance to prevent counterfeit goods from being introduced to the local market. It also can be use as a tool for the protection and enforcement of the IP rights. Although trademark registration is not a pre-requisite for the importation/exportation of goods, we strongly recommend that you register the trademark before the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI). Although up-to-date registration of the trademark in the Mexican Customs database is voluntary, it is highly recommended to do so because through this database, Mexican Customs can review the information provided by rights holders and identify imports of counterfeit goods. This makes the process more efficient and gives Customs immediate access to detailed information about rights holders, licensees and their representatives. Besides, it allows rights holders and their representatives to be contacted promptly so that they can initiate the appropriate legal actions in due time.

The Mexican Customs Service does not have the statutory authority to detain counterfeit goods on its own initiative; therefore the burden is on the trademark owner to obtain a

seizure order from the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI), through an administrative infringement action alleging infringement of a trademark, or a federal prosecutor from the Attorney General Office, via a criminal proceeding, alleging trademark counterfeiting. These same remedies apply once the counterfeit/pirated goods are in the market.

Our IP enforcement group has been consistently recognized as one of Central and Latin America’s most formidable enforcement practices. We help to identify urgent enforcement issues that are strategic to pursue and design a campaign tailored to local requirements to successfully fight the piracy shadow market in Mexico. In cooperation with the Federal police, our work resulted in the first organized crime indictment arising from counterfeit goods. Since then, we are responsible for the greatest number of actions and seizures of illicit goods in Mexico. We handle 70% of border measures and IP enforcement cases in Mexico, either through administrative infringement actions before the IMPI or by criminal procedures before the Mexican Attorney General’s Office. In the last 5 years, we handled 1,794 criminal and administrative proceedings that resulted in more than 3.5 millions of seized goods.