Mexican company denounces Elon Musk for wanting to keep one of its brands

On November 12, 2015, StarGorup, a Mexican company obtained from the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI) the registration of the trademarks StarGo, StarLine, StarTV, StarKa, StarGroup and StarLink which have been used for more than six years to distinguish their services nationwide.

Throughout this time, Star has been the hallmark of the Mexican business group. As of this date, IMPI has not found any precedent that would prevent the granting of these registrations, within class 38 of its classification, which is Telecommunications, and as an expert in the field, it considered that the trademark owner was in full compliance with granting the registration.

According to the specialist Oscar de la Torre, “when the IMPI finds a defect in the request, it has the obligation to solicit the interested party and ask him for clarifications. In this case, IMPI did not ask for any clarification, which means that it considered that the request was perfectly well presented, meeting all the requirements established by law and regulations ”. In October 2018, SpaceX, through Mexican law firm Méndez + Cortés, SC, sued IMPI for the invalidity and expiration of the Starlink trademark, arguing that StarGroup failed to specifically identify the services of telecommunications to protect or use.

Without the legal problem having been solved and without the ownership of the trademark registration, SpaceX, owned by billionaire Elon Musk, is using it to sell the same services as the Mexican StarGroup in Mexico. IMPI rejected SpaceX’s request. It found that StarLink’s registration by StarGroup was clear as to the scope of its services and that it had made use of the mark.

Faced with this decision, the foreign firm filed an appeal with the Specialized Chamber of Intellectual Property of the TFJA. Surprisingly, without arguments and to the detriment of the Mexican Star group, the chamber composed of judges Óscar Alberto Estrada Chávez, Héctor Francisco Fernández Cruz and Isaac Jonathan García Silva, declared the StarLink trademark null and void for the benefit of Elon Musk’s company.

StarGroup pointed out that in its lawsuit, SpaceX did not argue that it has ever used the trademark or a better right in Mexico or abroad, that it has no prior acquired rights and that the foreign company is simply came to Mexico to subjugate her and strip her of her rights. For the moment, StarGroup has already filed an amparo against the resolutions of the Specialized Chamber.

The Mexican company has indicated that it agrees with the comments of Minister Arturo Zaldívar, president of the Supreme Court of Justice of the nation and of the Federal Council of the Judiciary, who reiterated its policy of zero tolerance on corruption.