Legislative Implementation of Flexibilities - Mexico

Title:	Articles 50, 52, 53, 54, 55 and 55bis of the Industrial Property Law of 25/06/1991as last amended on 06/12/2005
Field of IP:	Patents
Type of flexibility:	Substantive examination
Summary table:

Provisions of Law

Article 50

Once the application has been filed, the Institute shall examine the form of the documents, and may require that further details or clarifications be provided wherever it considers this necessary, or that omissions be rectified. If the applicant fails to fulfill this requirement within two months, the application shall be considered abandoned.

Article 52

The publication of the pending patent application shall take place as soon as possible following the expiration of a period of 18 months from the filing date of the application or, where applicable, from the date of recognized priority. At the request of the applicant, the application shall be published prior to the expiration of said period.

Article 53

Once the patent application has been published and the appropriate fee has been paid, the Institute shall conduct an examination of the substance of the invention in order to determine whether the requirements specified in Article 16 of this Law are satisfied, or whether the invention is covered by any of the situations provided for in Articles 16 and 19 of this Law.

In order to conduct substantive examinations, the Institute may, where appropriate, request the technical support of national specialized agencies and institutions.

Article amended DOF August 2, 1994

Article 54

The Institute may accept or request the findings of substantive examinations or the equivalent thereof conducted by foreign patent offices or, where appropriate, a plain copy of the patent granted by any of said foreign offices.

Article 55

The Institute may call upon the applicant in writing to submit, within a period of two months, such additional or complementary information or documentation as may be necessary, including that which relates to searches or examinations undertaken by foreign offices, to alter the claims, description or drawings, or to make such clarifications as it considers relevant where:

I. in the opinion of the Institute this is necessary for the conduct of the substantive examination; and

II. during or as a result of the substantive examination it transpires that the invention, as identified in the application, does not meet the patentability requirements or falls into any of the cases provided for in Articles 16 and 19 of this Law.

If, within the period referred to in this Article, the applicant does not comply with the request served on him, his application shall be considered abandoned.

Article 55 bis.

Documents submitted either in compliance with any of the requests referred to in Articles 50 and 55 of this Law or, in the case of voluntary alterations, may not contain additional material or claims that give a scope greater than that contained in the original application considered as a whole.

Voluntary alterations shall be accepted only up to before the issue of the decision on the appropriateness or otherwise of the grant of a patent referred to in Articles 56 and 57 of this Law.