In Mexico and in Costa Rica, the statute text we were able to read punishes whoever makes, sells, distributes or imports a counterfeit for commercial purposes. In neither country did we find an article that addresses the private buyer, either to punish or to exempt them. That part is unresolved in what we reviewed, and anyone who tells you it is settled, one way or the other, is not quoting the law.
Below is what each text does say, who enforces it, and where to complain if you were sold a copy as genuine.
Mexico
Who enforces the law
The Instituto Mexicano de la Propiedad Industrial, IMPI, is the decentralised public body with legal authority to administer the industrial property system, according to its own page on gob.mx. It is the body that pursues the sale of counterfeits, and it does so through raids. In one of them, in Mexico City’s Centro Histórico, IMPI itself reported 19,591 counterfeit products seized.
The law
The current law is the Ley Federal de Protección a la Propiedad Industrial, LFPPI, which replaced the older Ley de la Propiedad Industrial. According to the text published by the Cámara de Diputados, it has been in force since 5 November 2020.
What it punishes
Three articles matter here, according to the text published in the legal repository we consulted.
Article 386 lists administrative infractions. Among them, offering for sale or putting into circulation products stating they are protected by a registered trademark when they are not, and selling products with an altered trademark or counterfeit labelling.
Article 402 makes it a crime to falsify a trademark for the purpose of commercial speculation.
Article 404 targets the seller. It imposes two to six years’ imprisonment plus a fine on anyone who knowingly sells, on public roads or in public places and for commercial speculation, goods bearing counterfeits of protected trademarks to any final consumer. The penalty rises to between three and ten years when the sale is made from a commercial establishment or in an organised, permanent manner.
There is another article, 403, with the penalty for the base offence of falsification. The sources we consulted do not agree on its ceiling, so we do not quote a figure. If you need it, read it in the official text in the Diario Oficial de la Federación.
The buyer
Look at the subject of each article. Whoever falsifies, whoever puts into circulation, whoever sells “for commercial speculation”. We found no article in the LFPPI that punishes buying or holding a counterfeit for personal use. We also found none that exempts it. It is an absence in what we read, not an exemption, and we present it as neither.
What is in the text is this. If one day you resell that piece knowing it is fake and for commercial gain, Article 404 describes a seller, and the seller is you.
Where to complain
The Procuraduría Federal del Consumidor distinguishes two routes, according to its official page. A queja is a formal claim when a supplier harms you directly, and it opens a conciliation with that supplier. A denuncia is when you report acts or omissions by a supplier that affect a portion of society. It opens an inspection and can end in a fine, but not in compensation for you. Both are free.
We found no PROFECO guidance specific to counterfeit luxury or to pre-owned luxury purchases. What exists is general alerts on online shopping fraud.
The platform’s rules
If you bought on Mercado Libre, the site’s intellectual property policy prohibits the sale of counterfeits and unauthorised replicas. A seller who breaks it has the listing cancelled and can have the account suspended. That is a platform rule, not a law, but it is a faster route than any other to make a listing disappear.
Costa Rica
The law
The statute is Law 8039, Ley de Procedimientos de Observancia de los Derechos de Propiedad Intelectual, from 2000, amended in 2008 by Law 8656, according to the WIPO Lex entry.
What it punishes
According to a summary by a Costa Rican law firm, Article 44 scales the penalties for trademark falsification to the value of the genuine goods affected. They range from a fine of five to twenty base salaries at the lowest tier up to three to five years’ imprisonment, or a fine of two hundred to five hundred base salaries, at the highest. We were not able to read the official text of that article on a government page. The figures come from two secondary sources that agree.
According to AG Legal’s summary of the position of the Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Comercio, manufacturers, distributors and importers of counterfeit products can face criminal sanction, the goods can be destroyed by court order, and the manufacturer can be required to pay damages equal to the value of the genuine product.
The buyer
Same as in Mexico. The text reviewed targets manufacturers, sellers, distributors and importers. We found no clause on the final buyer, either to punish or to exempt them.
Where to complain
MEIC is the consumer protection body and runs a free hotline, 800-CONSUMO (800-2667866). We found no MEIC guidance specific to counterfeits. What exists is general material on consumer fraud and warranties.
What this means if you buy pre-owned
Three things, with what there is.
The law, in both countries, goes after the seller. If you were sold a copy as genuine, your route is a complaint to your country’s consumer body. The trademark side is pursued, in Mexico, by IMPI.
Your role as a buyer is not written in either of the two texts we were able to read. Anyone who assures you that “buying is legal” or that “buying is a crime” owes you an article with a number.
And the document that backs you up in front of a future buyer, an insurer or a platform is a report from a named third party. Kove does not issue its own verdicts and has no laboratory. Some pieces carry a report from an outside laboratory, in the laboratory’s name, and the piece’s page says so when one exists. If you want one on a specific piece, it is arranged with that laboratory and you receive the result exactly as issued, which can confirm the piece or fail to confirm it. The details are on Authenticity.
This is general information, not legal advice. For a specific case, consult a lawyer in your country.
Sources
- https://www.gob.mx/impi
- https://www.gob.mx/impi/prensa/el-impi-da-otro-golpe-contundente-contra-la-pirateria-en-el-centro-historico-de-la-cdmx-19-591productos-apocrifos-asegurados
- https://www.diputados.gob.mx/LeyesBiblio/pdf/LFPPI.pdf
- https://leyes-mx.com/ley_federal_de_proteccion_a_la_propiedad_industrial/386.htm
- https://leyes-mx.com/ley_federal_de_proteccion_a_la_propiedad_industrial/402.htm
- https://leyes-mx.com/ley_federal_de_proteccion_a_la_propiedad_industrial/404.htm
- https://www.gob.mx/profeco/articulos/proceso-y-requisitos-de-quejas-y-denuncias
- https://www.mercadolibre.com.mx/ayuda/R-plicas–falsificaciones-y-co_2579
- https://www.wipo.int/wipolex/es/legislation/details/888
- https://www.olgercalvolegal.com/leyes-costa-rica/ley-delitos-contra-la-propiedad-intelectual
- https://aglegal.com/es/propiedad-intelectual/proteccion-de-marca-en-productos-falsos/
- https://www.meic.go.cr/tramites-y-servicios/denuncias-consumidor/
- https://koveluxury.com/autenticidad/