Online trademark registration with the IMPI is done in Marca en Línea, the platform you enter with a PASE account, where you enter the application, attach PDF exhibits, pay with a payment reference and sign with an e.firma (the SAT's electronic signature), according to the "Registro de marca paso a paso" guide the institute publishes on gob.mx. You don't need to go to a counter. What you do need is to arrive with the decisions made: name, class and description. Here is the whole walkthrough, what the system doesn't accept, and the mistakes business owners repeat most.
Before you enter the portal: three decisions
The system only captures what you have already decided. If you improvise inside the form, that's where requirements appear.
- That the name is available. Check it in Marcanet or MARCia, the IMPI's search tools, including the phonetic search. The full guide is at how to check whether a trademark is already registered.
- The Nice class. It defines which line of business you are protected in. A name that's free in one class may be taken in another. If you're unsure, see which Nice class applies to you.
- The description of goods or services. Write it in concrete terms, not marketing language. It is the part that generates the most requirements.
Step by step inside Marca en Línea
- Get or renew a valid e.firma for the owner or their attorney.
- Create your PASE account on the IMPI portal and enter Marca en Línea.
- Enter the owner's details: name or company name, address, RFC or CURP (Mexico's tax and population ID numbers). If an attorney files the application, attach the document that proves their authority.
- Indicate the type of mark (name, design or combined), upload the logo if there is one, and choose the class and the description of goods or services.
- If you already use the mark, enter the date of first use. If not, leave it that way: you can file without prior use.
- Attach the PDF exhibits that apply, for example rules of use if the mark has several owners.
- Generate the payment reference and pay. The amount is set by the IMPI's current official fee schedule, which changes every year; confirm it on the portal the day you pay.
- Sign the application and submit it. Download and save the electronic receipt: it is your proof of the filing date.
With everything ready, we estimate data entry takes one or two hours. If it's your first time, plan for an afternoon.
What Marca en Línea doesn't accept
The usual case is registering a name, a design or both. If your sign is of another type, such as a three-dimensional shape, confirm on the IMPI portal whether it's available through this route before you start. For a small business this almost never matters, and the guide to types of trademarks with the IMPI explains which one makes sense.
After you submit: what isn't automatic
- Check the status in Marcanet regularly. The file moves through stages: formal examination, substantive examination and, if all goes well, the certificate.
- Check the electronic mailbox of your PASE account. Official notices are served there. An unread notice can cost you the process you already paid for.
- Respond on time. For a requirement you have 2 months, extendable to 4 with an additional fee, under the Federal Law for the Protection of Industrial Property. Without a response, the application is abandoned.
The detail of each form field and the most common formal errors are in how to fill out the trademark application form.
The mistakes that come up most
- Registering the name without searching first: you pay for the process and the IMPI can refuse it over a similar mark in the same line of business.
- Choosing a single class to save money, when the business operates in two.
- Describing products with adjectives ("the best") instead of what they are.
- Entering an owner's name that differs from the e.firma used to sign.
- Not saving the receipt or checking the electronic mailbox.
When it makes sense to delegate
Doing it yourself is viable if your name is clear, you have a single class and you can check the portal regularly. Help makes sense when you have doubts about similarity to another mark, when there are several classes, or when nobody in the business will watch the mailbox. What justifies a third party is the prior analysis and the monitoring of the file, not the form on its own.
At Elevalia
With our trademark registration service with the IMPI we run the prior search, choose the class, file the application and follow the file through to the certificate, starting at $7,990 MXN. The IMPI's official fees are paid separately and confirmed against the current fee schedule.