Trademark cancellation for nonuse in Mexico: what it is and how to avoid it

Under Mexican law, a trademark registration can be cancelled if the mark goes unused for three consecutive years. IMPI (Mexican Institute of Industrial Property) can declare the cancellation at the request of anyone with a legal interest, or on its own initiative (articles 235 and 329 of the LFPPI, Mexico’s Federal Law for the Protection of Industrial Property). If you are notified, you have one month to defend your registration with evidence of use (article 336).

Can my trademark be cancelled for nonuse?

Yes. In English it is usually called nonuse cancellation; Mexican law calls it caducidad, literally “lapse”. It applies when the mark went unused for the three consecutive years before the request was filed, unless there was a justified reason (article 260, section II).

It can be total or partial. If you use the mark for some of the goods or services in your registration and not for others, the registration can be cancelled only for the ones you don’t use (article 235).

Once the decision that declares it becomes enforceable, the registration no longer has any effect (article 263).

How are the three years of nonuse counted?

The three years are counted backwards from the day someone files the cancellation request. If you or your licensee used the mark within that period, the request fails (articles 235 and 260).

For example, if someone files for cancellation on March 1, 2027, what matters is whether you used the mark between March 1, 2024 and that date.

Use has to be genuine: your goods or services must be in commerce, or available on the market, in the quantity and manner that are normal for your line of business. Token use, such as a one-off sale made just for appearances, is not enough (article 121 of the LFPPI Regulations). Applying the mark to goods for export also counts as use.

The request also fails if something beyond your control kept you from using the mark, such as import restrictions or other government requirements (article 235).

Who can request the cancellation of a trademark?

Anyone with a legal interest (interés jurídico). For example, someone who wants to register a mark similar to yours and whose application IMPI refused because of your registration (article 329).

IMPI can also start the procedure on its own, and anyone can send it information that prompts it to (article 329).

What happens if someone requests the cancellation of your trademark?

The procedure follows these steps:

1. Whoever seeks the cancellation files a request with IMPI, together with their evidence (articles 330 and 331).
2. IMPI accepts the request for processing and notifies you, with a copy of the request and its documents, at the address the requester gave (article 336).
3. You have one month to respond and submit your evidence of use (article 336). If some of your evidence is abroad, IMPI can give you 15 more days just to file it, as long as you offer it in your response and point this out (article 340).
4. Before deciding, IMPI makes the file available to both parties for ten days so they can submit their final arguments, called alegatos (article 341).
5. IMPI issues its decision. If it declares the cancellation, the registration stops having effect once the decision is enforceable (article 263).

What evidence can you use to defend your trademark?

This procedure accepts all kinds of evidence, except testimony from witnesses or from the parties themselves (unless it is recorded in a document) and evidence contrary to morality or the law (article 333). The law expressly recognizes invoices and inventories from the owner or its licensee, when they relate to the facts being proven.

• Invoices (CFDI, the Mexican electronic invoice) that name your mark and the goods or services in your registration.
• Inventories and warehouse records.
• Advertising, catalogs and dated social media posts.
• Photos of your product, packaging or point of sale.
• Contracts with customers, distributors or licensees.

For what to keep, see What to keep as evidence of use. For a comparison of each option, see How to prove use of your trademark.

How do you avoid nonuse cancellation?

1. Use the mark as you registered it, or with changes that don’t alter its distinctive character (article 233).
2. Use it for the goods or services in your registration. After the declaration of use, protection continues only for the ones you declared (article 233).
3. File the declaration of use within the three months after the third anniversary of your registration (article 233).
4. Renew your trademark within the six months before it expires (article 237).
5. Save evidence of use every month instead of scrambling once someone asks for it.
6. If you license the mark, ask your licensee for copies of their invoices: their use counts too (article 235).

Where does Prueba de Uso come in?

Every Monday, Prueba de Uso publishes your mark in a new edition of its catalog. An accredited certification provider timestamps each edition, so each one carries a verifiable date. For every edition you can download the catalog, your mark’s record and a certificate showing your mark appeared in it.

The certificate shows your mark was published on a verifiable date. Your invoices show the sales. So keep both, with the certificate alongside your invoices.

Editions count from the day you subscribe, so the sooner you start, the more weeks with a verifiable date you’ll have. Plans are priced per mark, billed monthly or annually. See how it works or browse the catalog.

Sources

• Federal Law for the Protection of Industrial Property (LFPPI, last amended in the DOF on April 3, 2026): articles 233, 235, 237, 238, 260, 263, 329 to 331, 333, 336, 340, 341, 369 and 370.
• LFPPI Regulations, article 121 (DOF of April 28, 2026).
• Law as in force on October 28, 2026. All sources are in Spanish.

Frequently asked questions