In just under two decades, Arochi Marroquín & Lindner has managed to establish itself as one of the leading full-service IP firms in Mexico, with a particularly strong reputation in trade mark litigation. The firm, which is based in Mexico City, has a team of 30 IP professionals, while a smaller group of five lawyers work out of the Barcelona office. Clients include Intel, Tequila Cuervo, Tous, Nintendo and Laboratorios Senosiain.
Peers heap generous praise on the firm, describing it as "very good" with "very talented practitioners". "Arochi is a leader in the [trade mark contentious] field," one rival says.
In one trade mark infringement case the firm handled and won for its client, it found that a decision and fine imposed by IMPI was not enough to put an end to the infringer's actions. As a result, it pushed for IMPI to adopt further measures, which the patent and trade mark authority did by shutting down the infringer's establishment for 30 days. After this measure, the infringing practices stopped. Since then, IMPI has imposed temporary closures against other infringers, a measure that had not been used since 1999.
In another trade mark infringement case, Arochi represented a company that was accused of using a similar trade mark to that of the plaintiff's, thus causing confusion among consumers. On behalf of the defendant, Arochi argued that no confusion was likely but also sought invalidation of the plaintiff's registrations, alleging false statements in the applications relating to the first date of use. The trade mark office sustained the counterclaim, which led to a settlement between the two parties and set an important precedent regarding false statements as grounds for invalidation. While the trade mark authority had previously stated that false statements should be considered relevant in an invalidation action, relevancy had not been clearly defined and some judicial criteria were contradictory. This decision sets clear parameters for declaring a nullity on these grounds.
The firm lost one partner in 2012 with the departure of Mike Margáin, who as of January 2 2013 is IMPI's new director general.