COSTA RICA Law and Practice Contributed by: Maricruz Villanea Villegas, Roberto Arguello, Edna Lopez and Leyla Harper-Dominique, IDEAS IP
Courts Civil intellectual property disputes are heard by the civil courts and processed as abbreviated proceed- ings under the Civil Procedure Code. Unfair competi- tion cases follow the summary process under Law No 7472. Criminal cases are handled by the criminal courts under the general criminal procedure rules. Administrative decisions of the Industrial Property Registry can be challenged first through a motion for reconsideration before the same Registry, and then on appeal before the Tribunal Registral Administrativo . Civil Remedies Under Law No 8039, the civil courts can order the following: • immediate cessation of the infringing acts; • seizure of counterfeit or illegal goods; • suspension of customs clearance of goods; • damages, calculated preferably by expert opinion and set with reference to the profits the owner would have earned, the profits obtained by the infringer and the royalty that would have been payable for a lawful license – the minimum is the equivalent of one statutory base salary; • seizure and destruction of counterfeit goods, with destruction only available by final judgment; and • in appropriate cases, donation of goods to social welfare programmes, provided the infringing ele- ments are first removed, but only with the rights- holder’s consent. Criminal Remedies Law No 8039 establishes the following criminal offences, each carrying a prison sentence of one to three years: • counterfeiting a registered mark (Article 44); • selling, offering, storing, distributing, importing or exporting products bearing a counterfeit mark (Article 45); • dealing in designs or specimens of marks identical to a registered mark (Article 46); • falsely identifying oneself as an authorised distribu- tor of a company with a registered trade name (Article 47); and • fraudulent use of geographic indications or desig- nations of origin (Article 48).
Criminal proceedings are public but initiated at the instance of the private party. Courts can also order seizure and destruction of infringing goods in crimi- nal proceedings. Article 70 provides that no penal- ty applies if the acts were committed without profit motive or are of an insignificant nature that causes no Under Articles 10–17 of Law No 8039, a rights-holder with reasonable grounds to believe counterfeit goods are being imported may apply to the Registry or courts to suspend customs clearance. The applicant must prove ownership, post a bond and describe the goods. Once suspended, the rights-holder has ten business days to file a full legal action; otherwise, the goods are released. Customs may also act on their own initia- tive and must report to the public prosecutor within 24 hours. Counterfeit goods cannot be re-exported in their original state while proceedings are pending. real harm to the rights-holder. Customs and Border Measures 3. Copyright 3.1 Legal Framework and Copyrightable Works Copyright protection is governed by Law No 6683 (as amended by Laws No 8686 and 8834), with enforce- ment under Law No 8039. Costa Rica is a member of the Berne Convention. The law protects all original intellectual productions in their expression, not the underlying ideas. Protected works include: • literary works; • computer programmes and derivative versions; • speeches and lectures; • dramatic, musical and choreographic works; • paintings, drawings, architecture, sculpture and engravings; • photographic works; • applied arts; • compilations and databases whose selection or arrangement constitutes an intellectual creation; and • derivative works such as translations and adapta- tions.
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