If your trademark was designated to Mexico through an international registration under the Madrid Protocol and Mexico's Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI) issues a provisional refusal, you have an initial two-month deadline to respond, counted from the business day following notification, with an automatic two-month extension available if the extension fee is paid when requesting it. The response must be filed directly with IMPI, never with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), and you need a representative with a domicile in Mexico to do so. If the deadline expires without a response, the Mexican designation is deemed abandoned and you lose protection in the country, even though the international registration remains valid in the other designated countries.
What is a provisional refusal and why does IMPI issue one?
When someone registers a trademark through the Madrid System and designates Mexico as one of the countries where protection is sought, IMPI examines that designation exactly as it would examine a national application. If it finds an obstacle, whether procedural (for example, a classification of goods or services that does not match the Nice Classification) or substantive (for example, similarity to a mark already registered in Mexico), it notifies a provisional refusal through WIPO. This is not a final rejection: it is an opportunity to argue, clarify, or limit the application before IMPI issues a decision.
The exact deadlines: two months, plus a two-month extension
The response mechanics, confirmed following the reform to the Federal Law for the Protection of Industrial Property and its Regulations (in force since July 22, 2026), work as follows:
- Initial deadline: two months from the business day following notification of the provisional refusal.
- Extension: an additional two months, granted almost automatically, if the corresponding extension fee is paid when filing the extension request.
- The response is filed directly with IMPI, not with WIPO: sending the response to Geneva does not stop the Mexican deadline.
- A representative with a domicile in Mexico is required. In practice, a non-formal power of attorney is enough to start acting; a scanned copy is sufficient.
Source for the deadline mechanics: reform to the LFPPI, published in the Federal Official Gazette on April 3, 2026 (in force April 4, 2026), and its Regulations, in force since July 22, 2026, per analysis consistently confirmed across sources (De Alva & Asociados, dealva.com.mx/trademark-provisional-refusals-under-madrid-system, and coverage of the reform by Mexican industrial property firms, April 2026).
Why this matters to more foreign companies every year
- In 2025, Mexico became the Madrid System member receiving the highest number of subsequent designations: 2,325, up 13.6%, overtaking Canada (1,948) and the United States (2,058), which had led that ranking in 2024 (WIPO, Madrid Yearly Review 2026). In total designations received in Madrid applications filed in 2025, Mexico accumulated 11,869, with an annual growth rate of 13.6 percent. Source: World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Madrid Yearly Review 2026, wipo.int/en/web/madrid-system/w/news/2026/madrid-system-yearly-review-2026.
- In the first half of 2026, 12 percent of all applications for distinctive signs received by IMPI arrived through the Madrid Protocol, out of a total of 126,888 applications, of which 26 percent were of foreign origin. Source: gob.mx, official statement "El IMPI anuncia resultados en materia de propiedad industrial durante el primer semestre de 2026," gob.mx/impi/prensa.
Translated into what matters to in-house counsel: more designations to Mexico means, in practical terms, more provisional refusals in absolute volume, simply because more applications are in play. Missing the deadline, or responding from corporate headquarters without local representation, is one of the most common ways a foreign company loses protection in Mexico over an avoidable administrative error, not a weak case.
Common grounds for a provisional refusal
- The classification of goods or services does not follow the Nice Classification in the terms IMPI requires, or includes descriptions that are too broad or ambiguous.
- The examiner finds a mark already registered in Mexico, identical or similar, for related goods or services.
- Missing information or documentation that IMPI considers necessary to continue the examination.
None of these grounds automatically means the application is lost: most can be argued, narrowed, or corrected within the deadline.
What happens if you miss the deadline
If the two-month deadline, or four months with the extension, expires without a response filed before IMPI, the Mexican designation of the international registration is deemed abandoned. The international registration remains valid in the other designated countries, but Mexico falls out, and recovering protection normally means starting over with a national application, without the original priority date.
"A provisional refusal is not bad news by itself, it is a normal part of the process. The bad news is finding out it existed after the deadline already passed, because no one in Mexico was watching the file."
What to do as soon as a provisional refusal arrives
- Verify the notification date immediately: the two-month clock runs from the following business day, not from when headquarters finds out.
- Confirm whether the ground is procedural or substantive, since that changes the response strategy.
- Appoint or confirm the local representative with a domicile in Mexico, with the corresponding power of attorney, even a non-formal one to start acting.
- Decide whether to argue the refusal, narrow the list of goods or services, or both, depending on the specific ground.
- Request the extension from day one if there is any doubt the analysis and response can be completed within the initial two months.
None of this guarantees IMPI will grant the registration: that depends on the facts, the file, and the examiner's own criteria. What can be controlled is making sure the deadline is not missed for lack of notice or local representation.