Trademark equals identity. Patent equals innovation. Copyright equals creativity. Three different rights, and choosing the wrong one is the most expensive mistake in this field.
Trademark
Protects the sign that distinguishes your goods or services: a name, a logo, a slogan, in some cases a shape or a sound. Granted by IMPI, lasts ten years and is renewable indefinitely, but only if you file the declaration of actual use on time. It protects the identifier, never the product itself.
Patent
Protects a technical invention that is new, involves an inventive step and has industrial application. Granted by IMPI, lasts twenty years from filing and cannot be renewed. Absolute novelty is required, so publishing or selling before filing usually destroys the right.
Copyright
Protects original works: text, images, music, software, audiovisual material. It arises automatically on creation, and registration before INDAUTOR serves as evidence of authorship and date. It lasts the author life plus one hundred years in Mexico. It protects the expression, never the underlying idea.
Most businesses need more than one
A software company typically holds a trademark on the product name, copyright in the code, and sometimes a patent on a technical process. Mapping which right covers which asset is the first thing we do in a portfolio review.
Choosing between them in Mexico
They protect different things, for different periods, under different laws.
- Trademark. Signs that distinguish goods or services. Ten years from the grant, renewable indefinitely while used (article 178 of the Mexican Industrial Property Law).
- Patent. Technical solutions. Twenty years from the filing date, non-extendable, with annuities (article 53). A utility model runs fifteen (article 62), and an industrial design five, renewable up to twenty-five (article 78).
- Copyright. Original works, protected from creation whether registered or not (article 162 of the Mexican Federal Copyright Law). Registration is the proof of authorship and date.
Most real assets need more than one. A product can carry a registered name, a protected shape and copyrighted packaging artwork at the same time, and the mistake is choosing one figure and assuming it covers the rest.
The one rule that overrides the choice: patents and designs require novelty, so disclosing before filing can destroy it. Trademarks and copyright do not work that way, which is why the order of operations matters.