Intellectual property rights are valuable assets that can be used to fuel growth, expand into new markets, and attract major investments. Unfortunately, the advanced technology, the fierce unfair competition, and the sophisticated counterfeiting operations of today global market makes protecting your innovation and creativity an increasingly difficult and complex task.

At Arochi & Lindner, we handle high-risk, high-stakes intellectual property disputes in a wide array of matters that include IP claims such as patent, trademark, trade dress, trade secret and copyright infringement along with related claims of licensing, contract disputes, unfair business practices and other causes of action.

We are sensitive to the pressures our clients face while managing legal costs. For that reason, we develop creative solutions to resolve disputes, preferably before trial. However, when litigation is unavoidable, we deploy a responsive business-oriented approach through the entire litigation process-from preparing an opinion about infringement, examining the merits of the case, and assessing the likelihood of success, to guiding the case through the complaint, discovery, settlement negotiation, summary judgment, and trial stages.

Our legal expertise and technical knowledge, together with our creative and business-focused approach, help us to develop winning legal strategies for preventing conflicts and reaching resolutions in ways that are both cost-effective and market-oriented, either by pursuing or defending litigation, arbitration or by other alternative IP dispute resolution mechanisms.

Advertising and marketing litigation and dispute resolution

We act on behalf of plaintiffs and defendants in a wide array of business and contract disputes involving advertising, promotional and marketing matters related to unfair competition and unfair business practices, deceptive trade practices, false advertising, licensing agreement disputes, breach of contract claims and breach of marketing agreement claims. We conduct a thorough analysis to identify the case’s strengths and weaknesses to determine the most effective means of achieving a favorable resolution for our clients.

Copyright litigation

We advise in a wide variety of copyright cases, including copyright royalty rate-setting proceedings and copyright cases involving new media, representing clients across a broad diversity of industries, including film, music, television, publishing, fine art and new media.

Licensing and franchising litigation and dispute resolution

We represent both, licensors and licensees in IP license disputes, including mandatory arbitration and mediation proceedings as well as litigation in state and federal courts in all types of royalty audits and deficiencies; breach of contract and termination; representation, warranty, and indemnification; invalidity and non-infringement, and source code and technology escrow matters.

Patent enforcement, litigation and dispute resolution

We enforce owners’ rights in the protection of their patents, utility models and industrial designs against infringers. From preparing and responding to cease-and-desist letters, conducting negotiations and concluding settlement arrangements, to representing and advising clients in patents and utility models reissue, re-examination, revocation and invalidation proceedings, as well as disputes arising from trade secret misappropriation and interference.

Trademark cancellation

We review and determine the most adequate strategies to cancel third parties’ trademarks, whether to avoid dilution or possible infringement or to acquire rights.

Trademark dispute resolution and litigation

We advise and represent our clients in all kinds of trademark and trade dress infringement disputes, either as plaintiff whose rights have been violated or as defendant accused infringement of another party’s trademark. We evaluate whether an alternative dispute resolution method is a viable option that will minimize costs and legal liability by avoiding a lawsuit. However, whenever facilitating a settlement is not appropriate, we design and execute aggressive and successful litigation strategies to protect our client’s rights.

Our IP Litigation group is a cornerstone of our firm and as such, it has long been recognized as one of Latin America’s leading litigation practices. We advise a notable international clientele, ranging from engineering to consumer products and pharmaceutical industries. Our office handles more than 40% of the IP litigation cases in Mexico, many of whom are landmark trademark and patent cases that have played a major role in shaping Mexican IP law.

Our practice is distinguished by top-ranked trial lawyers with extensive court experience and a record of successful outcomes, as well as savvy professionals with stellar backgrounds in electrical, mechanical, chemical, biology, physics, and life sciences fields. We select the right team of professionals and the best strategy for each dispute, considering the complexity of the issue, technology, business objectives, and budget.

We have successfully tried hundreds of administrative proceedings in cases involving declaration of invalidity, cancellation and infringement before the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI) and the Specialized IP Chamber of the Federal Court of Fiscal and Administrative Justice, as well as amparo proceedings to prosecute any kind of violation of constitutional human rights that may affect the intellectual property interests of our clients.

Some of our notable successes include obtaining recognition by the Federal Courts of the registration of three-dimensional marks following repeated rejections of the applications filed before IMPI; introducing the concepts of trade dress and secondary meaning to the Mexican IP System; obtaining the designation of famous trademarks; implementing bold litigation strategies based on well-known and famous trademark declarations; and winning several trials that fight the constant abuses of intellectual property rights on patent matters such as the indiscriminate use of linkage.