La Jornada: IMPI secured 956 million pesos of pirated merchandise in 22 operations during Nieto Castillo’s administration

In 22 operations carried out in 11 states, the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI) secured 7.8 million pieces of apocryphal merchandise worth 956 million pesos, Santiago Nieto Castillo revealed this Thursday, in what was his last act as head of the organization before leaving office to seek Morena’s candidacy for the government of Querétaro.

In the Forum for the Presentation of Management Results before the IMPI, he highlighted that Operation Cleaning covered states such as Mexico City, Sonora, Jalisco, Durango, Hidalgo and Quintana Roo, among others, where, for example, nearly one million counterfeit Colgate brand products were destroyed.

In addition, 5,155 inspection visits were carried out and 659 opinions were issued by the Attorney General’s Office (FGR). He indicated that the Secretary of the Navy played a central role in the operations that allowed entry to plazas such as Izazaga 89, San Juan de Dios and Tepito.

“The fight against piracy is not minor,” Nieto said in the presentation, warning that this illicit market represents a means of financing for organized crime groups and a channel for the flight of resources abroad, particularly to China. He indicated that the FGR has already prosecuted investigation files derived from the operations.

T-MEC: Mexico leaves the Priority Watch List

On the foreign trade front, Nieto Castillo highlighted that in April 2026, Mexico was removed from the Priority Watch List of the so-called 301 Report, an instrument with which the United States evaluates the compliance of its trading partners regarding intellectual property.

Among the actions that contributed to this result, he said, are the reform of the Federal Law for the Protection of Industrial Property, the renewal of the IMPI-Cofepris linkage system and the 74 percent increase in the workforce of examiners. He emphasized that President Claudia Sheinbaum also authorized 500 positions for researchers for fees to strengthen the patent area.