Risk bulletin

Trademark declaration of use: the omission that makes a registration lapse without notice

In the third year of the registration and upon renewal, the owner must declare that it uses its trademark. If it does not, the registration lapses by operation of law.

LEXURE Industrial and Intellectual Property Practice Team 4 min read Regulatory status verified in 2026

Many owners believe a reg­is­tered trade­mark stays pro­tected for ten years with noth­ing more to do. The law, how­ever, requires a dec­la­ra­tion of use in the third year, and if the owner fails to file it, the reg­is­tra­tion is lost with­out any notice from the Mex­i­can Insti­tute of Indus­trial Prop­erty (IMPI).

What the law requires

Under Arti­cle 233 of the Fed­eral Law for the Pro­tec­tion of Indus­trial Prop­erty (Ley Fed­eral de Pro­tec­ción a la Propiedad Indus­trial), the trade­mark must be used in Mexico as reg­is­tered or with mod­i­fi­ca­tions that do not alter its dis­tinc­tive char­ac­ter, and its owner must declare its real and effec­tive use, stat­ing the spe­cific goods or ser­vices to which it is applied. The dec­la­ra­tion is filed within the three months after the third anniver­sary of the grant of the reg­is­tra­tion. Pro­tec­tion con­tin­ues only for the goods or ser­vices declared; if the dec­la­ra­tion is not filed, the reg­is­tra­tion lapses by oper­a­tion of law, with no dec­la­ra­tion by IMPI.

Upon renewal, the owner must declare use again (Arti­cle 237). Renewal is requested within the six months before expi­ra­tion, with a grace period of six months after­ward; if the term expires with no renewal appli­ca­tion, the reg­is­tra­tion lapses (Arti­cle 238). In addi­tion, any inter­ested party may seek a dec­la­ra­tion of lapse of a trade­mark that has not been used for three con­sec­u­tive years (Arti­cle 235). Use by a licensee counts as use of the trade­mark for these pur­poses, so it is advis­able to also keep evi­dence of use by licensees, fran­chisees and autho­rized dis­trib­u­tors.

What to do and by when

  1. For each reg­is­tra­tion, cal­cu­late the date of the third anniver­sary of the grant and the three-month window that fol­lows.
  2. Gather evi­dence of use: invoices, cat­a­logs, pack­ag­ing, adver­tis­ing and dated screen­shots.
  3. Declare only the goods or ser­vices on which you actu­ally use the trade­mark, because the dec­la­ra­tion defines the scope of pro­tec­tion.
  4. Cal­en­dar the renewal six months before expi­ra­tion and pre­pare the second dec­la­ra­tion of use.
  5. If licensees or fran­chisees use your trade­mark, ask them for peri­odic evi­dence of use and keep the licenses in writ­ing.

Recommendations to mitigate risk

Once the reg­is­tra­tion lapses, the com­pany also loses exclu­siv­ity over its trade­mark. A com­peti­tor may reg­is­ter the lapsed trade­mark, and the com­pany becomes exposed to claims over the sign it used for years. In addi­tion, stat­ing that a prod­uct is pro­tected by a reg­is­tered trade­mark when it is not is an infringe­ment; if the reg­is­tra­tion lapsed, the infringe­ment occurs one year after the lapse date (Arti­cle 386, sec­tion XVI). For that reason, a com­pany that keeps print­ing ® on the pack­ag­ing of a lapsed trade­mark may face a fine of up to 250,000 times the Unit of Mea­sure­ment and Update (UMA), that is, MXN 29,327,500, for each act (Arti­cle 388), on top of having lost the right.

How we approach it at LEXURE

We cal­en­dar the crit­i­cal dates of your port­fo­lio, gather the evi­dence of use and file dec­la­ra­tions and renewals on time.

If you do not know when the dec­la­ra­tion of use for your trade­marks is due, sched­ule a diag­nos­tic meet­ing with us.

Schedule a diagnostic meeting See our service lines

Legal basis

  1. Federal Law for the Protection of Industrial Property, Articles 233, 235, 237, 238, 386, section XVI, and 388. Current text (opens in a new tab)
  2. Value of the Unit of Measurement and Update 2026, INEGI. Official publication (opens in a new tab)

This note is for information only and describes the law in force on the verification date. It is not legal advice on a specific matter. It is a translation of the Spanish original: Mexican law is published in Spanish, and the official Spanish texts prevail.

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