On March 24th of this year, the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property suspended, due to force majeure, all deadlines from March 24th to April 19th 2020. In addition, in order to implement the new preventive measures ordered by the Ministry of Health, the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property will suspend its activities from March 27th to April 19th.

The suspension will be notified to different authorities, both national and foreign, so that they may carry out the necessary steps in the face of the Institute's real and material impossibility of receiving notifications or any official communication, as well as fulfilling any requirement in said period in regards to any legal proceeding. The Institute may summon strictly necessary personnel for the following: a) Address urgent matters related to the administration of the Entity or any type of diligence that is necessary to contribute to mitigate the effects of the pandemic, or b) Ordering the suspension of provisional measures imposed within an administrative declaration of infringement proceeding, enabling the necessary hours or days, upon request to the email medidas@impi.gob.mx. The Official Communication will enter into force on March 27, 2020.

MEXICAN COPYRIGHTS INSTITUTE SUSPENDS TERMS DUE TO FORCE MAJEUR Due to force majeure, deadlines, terms, hearings and settlement meetings, notifications, official requirements and filing of briefs, as well as all kind of proceedings followed with the Mexican Copyrights Institute will be suspended from March 26th to April 17th, 2020. This suspension will be deemed as non-business day, hence during this period there will be no deadlines in the proceedings followed with the Mexican Copyrights Institute.

No requests nor briefs will be received at the Mexican Copyrights Institute, except those that refer to the receipt of proceedings for the services offered as an extraordinary administrative measure. The procedure for receiving these can be consulted on its website and will exclusively include the following:

(i) registration of works and contracts, (ii) the prior availability opinion of Reserves of Rights to Exclusive Use (Reservas de Derechos al Uso Exclusivo), (iii) the assignment of international standard book numbers (ISBN), (iv) and for periodical publications (ISSN), (v) excluding searches of registry records.

In connection to Reserves of Rights to Exclusive Use (Reservas de Derechos al Uso Exclusivo), those which are currently under a renewal process and those which will expire in the term running from March 26th to April 17th, 2020, will be deemed as valid and in force, until the suspension is lifted. The Official Communication does not imply work suspension for the Mexican Copyrights Institute officers, but only for rendering services to the public.