Austria & Mexico: Memorandums of Understanding

On October 25, 2016, the General Director of the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI) and the President of the Austrian Patent Office (APO) met to sign three agreements for collaboration in the IP sphere, namely a Memorandum of Understanding in the field of Cooperation in Industrial Property, a Memorandum of Understanding on the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH), and an Agreement on Authorization of the APO as an International Search Authority (ISA) and International Preliminary Examination Authority (IPEA).

The Memorandum of Understanding in the field of Cooperation in Industrial Property between the IMPI and APO aims, inter alia, at staff exchange and sharing information on the best IP practices and strategies.

The Memorandum of Understanding on the PPH, the centrepiece of the meeting, will enter into force on December 1, 2016. The Heads of both Patent Offices underlined that implementation of the Patent Prosecution Highway would be reciprocally beneficial for Austria and Mexico and would enable applicants to obtain protection for their innovations in the fastest possible way.

Additionally, Mexican applicants get the possibility to choose the Austrian Patent Office as an ISA or IPEA when filing an international application. Thus, the APO has become the eighth office to sign an ISA/IPEA Agreement with the IMPI joining the EPO (Europe), USPTO (USA), KIPO (Korea), IPOS (Singapore), PRV (Sweden), INAPI (Chile), OEPM (Spain).

In view of said favourable changes in the IP world we welcome you to visit our quotation system and get an actual quote for IP protection in the countries of your interest.

Author: Lynda Miller