Updating of the criminal legislation on intellectual property matters in Mexico

On July 1, 2020, the Federal Official Gazette published a Decree whereby several provisions of the Federal Criminal Code were amended and added. The amendments were made within the harmonization framework of domestic legislation with the USMCA.

Such amendments generated several speculations as to their scope; therefore, it is pertinent to clarify that the main changes include, among others:

• Extension of the statutory presumptions related to the crime of manufacturing, for profit, programs or devices which purpose is to deactivate software protection devices (hacking).

• Modification of the penalization system for those persons who decipher or decode telecommunication signals other than satellite signals, as well as for those persons who convey the ownership, use or enjoyment of apparatus or devices to conduct such decoding.

• Further statutory presumptions foreseen for a strict penalization system against piracy, as well as the marketing of content without the authorization from their creators, as well as of devices, products or services used to elude technological measures to protect content.

If you require any further information on the new criminal penalization system in intellectual property matters, please feel free to consult us.