Corrective Action: The Foundation pursued legal action as the way IMPI withdrew from our agreement was found illegal. The court in Mexico agreed with our position and by the end of 2021 the Foundation was notified with a favorable resolution on the lawsuit submitted in 2020, which led to initial meetings with the IMPI’s renewed top management but with no success in resetting the funds.
In June 2022, the Foundation submitted a formal request to the IMPI to reset the funds to continue the functioning of the agreement since an addendum was legally developed to be added to the original agreement. Hectic changes in top management at the Ministry of Economy of Mexico and the IMPI occurred in 2022, which resulted in unproductive efforts from previous negotiations.
Then in July 2023, the Foundation submitted a second lawsuit, accepted by the court, to enforce the previous one, won in 2021. On September 13th, 2024, the Foundation was notified by the court with a positive resolution regarding this second lawsuit. The IMPI still has a final opportunity to defend against this resolution, although its probabilities to change the outcome are minimum. From this, the Foundation’s executives and its Board of Governors are back on track on communicating with the legal team of the IMPI to accelerate the resetting of the funds and the collaboration agreement, looking to advance before the change of administration in Mexico. If the latter results unsuccessful the Foundation should have to wait by the end of 2024 to restart the actions before a possible new appointed director general of the IMPI.
Proposed completion date – End of 1Q2025.
Contact person – Eugenio Marin, Executive Director