Lack of intellectual property registration prevents growth of MSMEs

Starting a micro, small and medium-sized company (MSME) is a great job that should not be taken lightly, it is not just about starting to sell and make yourself known, you have to have the permits to operate, as well as a registration of intellectual property rights, one of the issues that often goes unnoticed, but without it, business growth will be practically impossible.

The registration of trademarks and patents, inherent to intellectual property rights, are essential to have a successful business, regardless of whether the company is micro or large, since everything that is created must be protected or else it can be plagiarized.

“Currently, globalization and the Internet demand necessary processes to protect their trademarks, inventions, but, above all, its industrial secrets. All of them are essential to maintain prosperous economic development for both large companies and MSMEs”, explained Guillermo Solórzano, Founding Partner of Solórzano Linaldi (SL), a legal solutions firm.

All intangible assets such as trademarks, patents or copyrights must be registered by companies from the first day the idea is generated, because if it is launched without the process, it increases the exposure of theft, legal problems and can even be discarded. To grant financing.

Solórzano indicated that when small businessmen do not protect their intellectual property, so they are not considered the owners or holders of the assets, they will have greater problems selling or looking for investment sources because they do not generate trust or formality.

According to data from the Mexican Institute of Intellectual Property (IMPI), 97% of trademark registrations are from MSMEs, which reflects the awareness of carrying out the process: however, there are many micro businesses that do not consider it essential because they are smaller in size. Another reason for not doing so is the cost involved in the process.

Given this, last April, the IMPI in collaboration with the Secretary of Economy, joined forces to reduce by one 90% the price of trademark registration in order to encourage the registration of micro-businesses in the country so that they could better reactivate their economy and better shield their ideas. The campaign lasted a month but with the possibility of doing it again in the future. Currently the cost of the procedure is 2,457.79 pesos.

The types

In order to know what procedure micro-enterprises must follow, whether to register a trademark, patent or trade secrets, the following must be analyzed:

• Brand: it is necessary for all companies because it is the identity of the business. The name can be a word, symbol, artifact, or a combination of these. This will distinguish your products and organization in the market. This is crucial if you have export plans.
• Patent: it is only applicable to inventions, that is, an invented product or an innovative method or process that is not registered in the market. This is crucial, for example, for SMEs that create technology to produce a food such as a freezing process that does not exist on the market or the formula for beauty products.
• Trade secrets: is strictly confidential information, of industrial or commercial application that represents a competitive or economic advantage over third parties and over which legal control is exercised.
• Copyright: belongs to those who create artistic and literary works in all their manifestations, such as books, paintings, music, sculptures, advertisements, among others.

The registration steps

Solórzano indicates that in order for MSMEs to be able to register properly, the first thing is to ensure that the trademark is available, which can be verified on the Marcanet portal, the IMPI trademark information consultation service, where the names can be seen. and sectors to which they belong.

It is worth mentioning that if a trademark already exists with the name to be registered, but it belongs to another sector and its commercial activity is different, the desired one can be registered because they are not competitors.

Likewise, the procedure could be done on the IMPI portal or at the offices, where the following documents are required:

• Request for Protection of Distinctive Signs A (Trademarks, Collective Marks, Certification Marks, Commercial Notice or Trade Name) or Request for Protection of Distinctive Signs B (Holographic Mark, Sound Mark, Olfactory Mark, Commercial Image or the combination of the above) .
• Additional sheet complementary to the point “General data of people”.
• Proof of payment.
• Document that proves the personality of the agent (it can be a certified copy and is optional).
• Proof of registration in the General Registry of Powers of the IMPI (optional).
• Rules of use, only if the distinctive sign is presented by more than one applicant (co-ownership).
• Additional sheet complementary to the point “Products or services in the event of a Trademark or Commercial Notice/preponderant line of business”.
• Additional sheet to complement the point “Legends or non-reservable figures”.
• Translation of the documents presented in a language other than Spanish, if applicable.
• Legalization or apostille of the attached documents from abroad, if applicable.
• Consent letter or documents proving the acquisition of a distinctive character derived from use in commerce. Original or certified copy.

“In order to protect their intellectual property, entrepreneurs need, in the best of cases, to approach professional lawyers who provide advice and legal and technical support at all times,” Solórzano concluded.