MEXICO Law and Practice Contributed by: Carlos Hernandez, Roxana Aispuro and Luis Emilio Moncada, BC&B Law & Business
8. Appeal 8.1 Appellate Procedure
decided in favour of the plaintiff, the MIIP orders the destruction of the seized product. Note that it can be difficult to achieve an order that limits an employee’s subsequent employ - ment in order to protect the plaintiff’s trade secrets, as this order can violate the right of this employee to not be prevented from engaging in any lawful profession, industry, trade, commerce or work that suits them. However, this can be assessed on a case-by-case basis. 7.4 Attorneys’ Fees In an administrative proceeding such as an infringement action, the Mexican law does not foresee the recovery of attorney’s fees. Howev - er, if a claim is filed to obtain compensation for damage, this concept can be included as part of the compensation. The process for obtaining this compensation is the same as the process for obtaining compen - sation for damage. 7.5 Costs Please see 7.2 Measures of Damages for fur- ther details of how the amount of compensa - tion that the successful claimant can recover is determined. Costs may be claimed, at the option of the affected owner, before: • the MIIP, once the respective administrative procedure has been concluded, under the terms of the FLPIP; or • the courts directly, in accordance with the provisions of the common legislation and without the need for prior administrative dec - laration.
Although no official communications other than the final decision can be appealed, the decision issued by the MIIP in an infringement action can be appealed by any of the affected parties before: • the MIIP – within a 15-working-day period following the date on which they were served noticed of the referenced decision – by filing a review recourse, which will be assessed by the MIIP (this appeal takes approximately one year); or • a specialised court of the Federal Court of Administrative Affairs – within a 30-working- day period following the date on which they were served notice of the referenced deci - sion – by filing a nullity claim, which will be assessed by the magistrates of the Federal Court of Administrative Affairs (this appeal The appellate courts only review legal issues. The applicable standard mainly consists of ana - lysing whether the prior decision was issued legally; no de novo review is allowed. Moreover, it is important to mention that appeals are decided only on the papers. Live arguments or testimony are not heard at appeals. takes approximately one year). 8.2 Factual or Legal Review 9. Criminal Offences 9.1 Prosecution Process, Penalties and Defences In connection with criminal conduct, proceed - ings are brought before the Federal Prosecu - tor Office (FPO) by filing a criminal action. The
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