As of July 1st, 2020 new updates to intellectual property law have been enacted as part of the USMCA or United States, Mexico and Canada Free Trade Agreement, which came to replace NAFTA.
In this tri-party agreement, amendments were made to the Federal Copyright Law and to the Federal Criminal Code, and the new Industrial Property Protection was enacted, overruling the now repealed Industrial Property Law.
What this all means is that your Intellectual Property (IP) is better protected in Mexico than ever before. Some of the main aspects that have changed with the new law is the severity of the penalties for rights infringement and the broadening of said rights. This extends to the transmission and reception of encrypted signals and to the manufacturing or commercialization of any device or system meant for decrypting signals.
Also, in the case of any internet-based information, application or program, either government can now order its immediate deletion or removal in case of piracy and, of course, the payment of any damages stemming from said piracy.
It basically means that you can now breathe much easier when it comes to patents and the execution of your intellectual property rights cross-borders. In the past, it was much more difficult for an American business to press charges in Mexican courts because the system simply didn’t contemplate the possibility.
Now, however, American and Mexican companies can demand and execute their rights if they decide to develop any content or technology. The simple fact that you own the rights to something, allows you to pursue anyone exploiting them, anywhere in the region.
This is especially beneficial for software development as anything to do with this industry is included in the package of the new law.
If you need more reasons why you should start nearshoring your developers, find out here
The USMCA considers a longer term of copyright protection, DRM or Digital Rights Management and technological protection measures (TPM), which as a collective, strengthen a company's ability to protect themselves against theft or counterfeiting.
What this means for you and your nearshore software developers is that the law now is watching over you as if you were under the same jurisdiction; you can now be sure that everything created and developed by your company, within your physical domain and beyond the border, is equally protected.
According to usmcacoalition.org, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Innovation Policy Center compared the USMCA IP protections against its International IP Index and it came to the conclusion that IP provisions of the USMCA are 36% stronger than NAFTA’s were, making it a great time to explore innovation, research and development in Mexico.
If you want to learn more about everything that nearshoring can do for your business, please contact us. We will be happy to guide you through this emerging market alternative.
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