IPA Backs Penguin Random House Appeal Over Mexican Ruling Against Todo a la luz

What happened? The International Publishers Association (IPA) says it will back Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial in court in Mexico. The publisher is appealing a ruling that fined it over Todo a la luz (Everything in the Light), Karla de la Cuesta's 2024 nonfiction book. In a statement posted on Monday, October 19, 2026, the IPA said the publisher has filed a judicial appeal and that the appeal includes an amicus brief from the association.

The ruling came from the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI), the government agency that handles trademarks and some commercial copyright matters. According to the IPA, it restricts the use of the name and image of a person cited in the book, fines the publisher, and threatens further sanctions if the book keeps circulating.

What the book is

Todo a la luz is a work of investigative nonfiction. PEN International, which took up the case on October 2, describes it as a true crime book that brings together court documents and testimony about alleged cases of sexual and labour exploitation. By PEN's count, about a third of the book is testimony from victims involved in the criminal proceedings it examines.

Mexico's publishers' chamber, CANIEM, gives a shorter description: the book looks at a court case and criticizes both the judgment and the conduct of several of the people involved. The IPA published CANIEM's statement in English on September 29.

What IMPI decided

PEN puts the date of the IMPI ruling at July 27, 2026. Besides the fine and the restriction on the book, PEN says the decision warns against mentioning the names in future books or publications.

Hugo Setzer, a past president of the IPA, wrote about the case in an opinion piece the IPA ran on September 29. He gives the proceeding's name as Gloria de los Ángeles Treviño Ruiz vs. Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial, and says IMPI fined the publisher "hundreds of thousands of pesos" for using the name and image of the pop singer Gloria Trevi in the book. Setzer is a supporter of the publisher's position, and his piece is clearly marked as opinion.

The publisher's argument

The legal fight turns on one short regulation. Article 74 of the Regulations of Mexico's Federal Copyright Law says that using a person's image without permission is not a commercial infringement when it is done for informational or journalistic purposes, or in the exercise of freedom of expression. PEN and Setzer both cite it by number, and CANIEM refers to the same rule.

CANIEM's complaint is that IMPI did not deal with it. The chamber said the decision failed to analyze all of the publisher's defenses and left out the rules that expressly protect informational and journalistic uses. Setzer adds that the law requires direct or indirect profit from the use of someone's image before a penalty applies. A name that appears in a piece of reporting, he argues, is not the same thing as a performer's likeness being exploited for sale.

The publisher has been blunt. In its own communications, quoted by the IPA, Quetzalli de la Concha, legal and copyright manager at Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial, called the ruling "pure censorship."

"The IMPI resolution creates a right of veto in favor of any person named in a journalistic investigation," she said. "If this criterion remains, no one will be able to use the name of a public figure to report on it or criticize it without their prior authorization, under threat of fines."

Why publishers elsewhere are watching

Jessica Sänger chairs the IPA's Freedom to Publish Committee. She framed the case as part of a wider pattern of SLAPPs, the strategic lawsuits used to wear down critics.

"Both authors and publishers of non-fiction books are consistently targeted by SLAPPs in many jurisdictions," she said. "The case of the Todo a la Luz by Karla de la Cuesta shows how all legal and administrative routes to limiting a book's circulation are considered, even the most untenable."

PEN raised the same worry. It said it had heard of more than ten legal proceedings connected to the book and the testimony in it. "An investigation in the public interest cannot be made subject to the authorisation of the individuals named in it," said Romana Cacchioli, PEN International's executive director.

For authors of memoir, biography, true crime and reporting, the risk is plain. If a government agency can treat a real person's name in a book as a commercial use that needs permission, then the subjects of a book get a say over whether it can be published.

Earlier this month the IPA released its 2026 report on the state of freedom to publish around the world. More of our coverage of the publisher is on the Penguin Random House page.

What comes next

The appeal now goes before Mexico's Federal Court of Administrative Justice. CANIEM has asked the court to review the matter exhaustively, in strict adherence to the law, the Constitution and international human rights treaties. PEN wants the court to keep the protections that let the book stay on sale, and to annul the sanctions. No hearing date has been made public.

Sources

• International Publishers Association, October 19, 2026: Mexico: IPA backs PRH Grupo Editorial in new Freedom to Publish Case
• PEN International, October 2, 2026: Mexico: PEN International calls on Mexican authorities to guarantee editorial freedom and freedom of expression
• CANIEM statement, in English via the IPA, September 29, 2026: Concerns for Freedom of Expression in Mexico
• Hugo Setzer, IPA opinion, September 29, 2026: Freedom to publish in Mexico: the case of Penguin