New Administrative Procedures for Trademark Nullity and Lapse in Argentina: Guidelines of INPI Resolution 215/2026
The Scenario: Reconfiguration of Administrative Litigation
The National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) of the Argentine Republic has enacted a major reform through Resolution 215/2026, completely replacing the technical regulations for resolving Nullity proceedings (Annex III) and total or partial Lapse due to non-use (Annex IV) in administrative proceedings. This adjustment seeks to consolidate the principles of speed, procedural economy, and legal certainty, aligning these processes with the Administrative Resolution Procedure for Oppositions.
However, the reform imposes rigorous operational burdens, inflexible procedural windows, and strict jurisdictional limits that compel lawyers, industrial property agents, company directors, and trademark holders to rethink the management and defense of their intangible assets.
Structural Comparison of the New Procedures
| Evaluated Criterion | Lapse Procedure (Non-use) | Nullity Procedure (Registration Defect) |
| General Grounds | Against trademarks registered for more than five (5) years prior to the request. | Exclusively against trademarks already in force and registered. |
| Legal Standing | Mandatory to invoke and substantiate the impact on a specific, current, and legally actionable subjective right or legitimate interest. Prevents abstract claims. | Mandatory to invoke and substantiate the impact on a specific, current, and legally actionable subjective right or legitimate interest. Prevents abstract claims. |
| Competence Exclusions | No exclusions based on subjective commercial grounds. | Absolute. Rejected in limine in administrative proceedings if it involves fraud or bad faith (Art. 24, subsections b and c of Law 22.362). INPI will only resolve subsection a) (legal contravention). |
| Ex-officio Activation | Applicable jointly if: not used for 5 years, Mid-term Sworn Declaration (DJMT) not filed, not a notorious mark, and no identical marks with DJMT in related classes. | Proceeds only if a serious, non-remediable defect is detected during the stages of the trademark granting process. |
1. Lapse Procedure due to non-use
Regulated under technical report IF-2026-64800408-APN-DNM#INPI, the procedure aims to "clean" the national register of inactive trademark signs. Those initiating the action at the request of a party must accurately substantiate their legitimate interest and pay the corresponding fee. The trademark holder will have the responsibility to demonstrate effective use to repel the action.
The so-called ex-officio lapse will be applied under a restrictive framework requiring the joint fulfillment of four conditions: total absence of use of the sign in the previous 5 years, omission of the Mid-term Sworn Declaration (DJMT) provided for in Article 26 of the Trademark Law, the sign does not enjoy notoriety according to the Paris Convention and TRIPS, and the holder does not maintain an identical sign registered in a related class where the DJMT was filed in a timely manner.
2. Trademark Nullity Procedure
Framed within the technical report IF-2026-64800354-APN-DNM#INPI, the procedure strictly limits the boundaries of the agency's competence. It is explicitly established that if a nullity request involves, partially or totally, the assumptions contemplated in subsections b) or c) of Article 24 of Law 22.362 (trademarks obtained by someone who knew they belonged to a third party, or obtained fraudulently/in bad faith), the INPI will abstain, ordering the in limine rejection of the administrative instance to prevent procedural duplicities. Such bad faith conflicts are reserved exclusively for the sphere of the Federal Civil and Commercial Courts.
3. The Burden of Electronic Unarchiving: The Analog-Digital Bridge
Given that the actions are directed against granted trademarks whose main files are archived in the system, the resolution introduces a mandatory and critical procedural burden to safeguard bilaterality and the constitutional right of defense:
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Notification on paper (real domicile): Before formally transferring the nullity or lapse notice, the initiating party is obligated to perform a notification via a reliable physical means (such as a "carta documento") to the real domicile of the holder registered in the file (or the legal domicile of their representative if they reside abroad).
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Mandatory content of the instrument: The notification must accurately identify the trademark (number, name, class), inform of the initiation of the action, detail the electronic unarchiving of the file, and formally instruct the holder that all subsequent proceedings will be conducted digitally at the INPI's electronic headquarters.
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Peremptory legal deadline: The plaintiff has an unextendable period of sixty (60) calendar days from the unarchiving order to proceed with and formally prove the notification in the file. If this term expires without due proof, the procedure will be rejected out of hand and archived.
4. Dynamics of Deadlines, Evidence, and Appeals
Once the accreditation of the physical notification is integrated, the trademark holder will be notified via their electronic mailbox for a peremptory period of fifteen (15) business days to exercise their defense and provide their documentary or instrumental elements. In the event that new facts or evidence of trademark use are alleged, the INPI will grant the petitioner a period of fifteen (15) additional business days, limited exclusively to commenting on those specific points.
In line with new technologies applied to industrial property, the digital evidentiary environment is modernized: parties may offer direct verifications based on internet screenshots or web platform logs, with the unavoidable technical obligation to incorporate the exact, public, and free access link for the INPI examiners to consult.
Finally, delays due to intermediate appeals are eliminated: simple rulings and interlocutory acts issued by the National Directorate of Trademarks during the substantiation will not be subject to ordinary appeals under the Regulations of the National Law of Administrative Procedures (LNPA). Requested extensions do not suspend ongoing deadlines. The final resolution issued by the INPI can only be appealed directly to the federal courts within the deadlines provided by the Trademark Law.
Official Documentation for Download
For an exhaustive legal analysis, we provide the full normative texts replaced by the National Directorate of Trademarks:
Alert regarding corporate and professional responsibility: Since trademarks constitute high-value assets on balance sheets, the administrative area of companies must conduct an immediate audit of real domiciles registered with the INPI. If the company has moved and did not register the change, an unarchiving "carta documento" sent to the old physical address will be considered fully valid, triggering legal deadlines at the electronic headquarters that could cause the loss of the intangible asset due to lack of defense.
