Recently, the Mexican Patent and Trademark Office (IMPI) issued the official report regarding statistics of Intellectual Property matters from 1993 to 2014. In the following lines, I will analyze these numbers regarding Patents, Industrial Designs and Trademarks regarding the period 2013-2014
a) In relation to Patent numbers I would like to highlight the following:
- The total number of patent applications filed at the IMPI in 2014 was 16,135. This figure represents an increase of 4% compared to 2013 (15,444 applications). It is important to note that 2014 is the third consecutive year with an increasing percentage in the filing of applications.
- The United States of America (7269 applications) is the country of origin with more applications in our nation followed by Germany (1346), Mexico (1244), Switzerland (1002) and Japan (946).
- Among the reported countries, Mexican applicants represent 7.7% of the total of filed applications. It is important to stand out that this increase in 2014 of almost 3% versus the previous year, although merely marginal and minimum represents an increase from 2013 where a decrease of 6% was presented. (1292 patent applications on 2012).
- The total number of granted patents
in 2014 was 9819. It is important to remark that 2014 was the
second consecutive year with a decrease. From 2012 to 2013 a
decrease of 16% was noted, and from 2013 to 2014 a decrease of 5%
occurred. This situation could be due to a backlog of work at the
IMPI, where there are not enough examiners to solve this
issue.
On regards to the technological field of granted patents, the Consumer Goods field represents the most important area of inventions in which applicants look for protection with a 33% of the total number. The next areas are Several Industrial Techniques (19%) followed by Chemistry and Metallurgy (14%). - The main patent holders in Mexico by
country of origin are the following:
United States of America Holder Number of Patents The Procter & Gamble Company 135 Microsoft Corporation 91 Halliburton Energy Services, Inc. 80 Kimberly-Clark Worldwide, Inc. 79 Colgate-Palmolive Company 73 Apple Inc. 71 Germany Holder Number of Patents Basf SE 109 Bayer Intellectual Property Gmbh 48 Bayer Cropscience Ag 48 Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft 42 Boehringer Ingelheim International 27 Siemens Aktiengesellschaft 20 Switzerland Holder Number of Patents Nestec SA 79 F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG 78 Novartis AG 62 Philip Morris Products SA 26 Tetra Laval Holdings & Finance SA 26 Syngenta Participations AG 14 Japan Holder Number of Patents Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. 82 Sony Corporation 69 Ntt Docomo, Inc. 42 Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Steel Corporation 36 Mitsubishi Electric Corporation 22 Fujitsu Limited 20 Mexico Holder Number of Patents Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México 18 Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del I.P.N. 15 Instituto Mexicano del Petróleo 14 Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey 13 Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana 13
b) In relation to Industrial Design numbers I would like to highlight the following:
- The total number of industrial design applications filed at the IMPI in 2014 was 4,080. It represented an increase of 2% compared to the previous year 2013 (4011 applications).
- Mexico is the top country filer of
design applications with 1769 representing 43% of the total. The
following countries are the most important filers in our
nation:
- United States of America with 1095 applications representing 27%.
- Japan: 180 applications representing 4%
- Germany with 145 design applications representing less than 4%.
c) The following are significant Trademark highlights:
- The IMPI received 118,745 trademark
applications on 2014. This number represents an increase of 11%
compared to 2013.
2014 represented the fifth consecutive year with an important growth. Considering the period from 2009 to 2014, trademark applications filed at the IMPI are growing at a rate of 10% per year on average. - Mexican applicants represent 67% of
the total market share with 79,840 applications. The following
countries in order of importance are:
- United States of America: 14,527 applications with the 12% of share.
- Germany: 3,012 applications representing the 3% share.
- France: share of 2% with 2052 applications.
The above information confirms the reason why the IMPI is considered one of the most important Patent and Trademark Office throughout Latin America even all over the world. Nonetheless, Intellectual Property in Mexico has to be promoted and spread in the country in order to boost the economic and technological development of the nation.
Although it is noteworthy that the Federal Government has included Intellectual Property as an important issue in the National Development Plan, the important task of promotion, awareness and dissemination of culture of protection should be a commitment of all citizens.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
