COSTA RICA Law and Practice Contributed by: Maricruz Villanea Villegas, Roberto Arguello, Edna Lopez and Leyla Harper-Dominique, IDEAS IP
tion ends automatically when information becomes public knowledge, loses commercial value or the owner stops maintaining confidentiality. Information disclosed to a government authority to obtain a permit or registration does not enter the public domain, and the authority must maintain con- fidentiality (Article 4, Law No 7975). Unauthorised disclosure that causes the secret to become public terminates protection; however, the owner may still benefit from the patent law grace period (Article 2.3, Law No 6867) to file a patent application within the applicable window. 5.5 Enforcement and Remedies Civil remedies under Law No 8039 include immediate cessation orders, seizure and destruction of infring- ing goods (destruction only on final judgment) and customs suspension. Damages are available, as are precautionary measures at any stage on application with a bond. Criminal sanctions of one to three years’ imprison- ment apply to: • unauthorised disclosure of trade secrets known through employment (Article 49 – with additional disqualification for public officials); and • acquisition of undisclosed information by illicit or disloyal means (Article 50). Criminal proceedings are public actions initiated by private complaint. In any administrative or judicial proceeding requiring disclosure of trade secret information, the presiding authority must adopt all measures necessary to pre- vent third-party disclosure; no party to the proceeding may use or reveal the information (Article 9, Law No 7975). Article 7.2 of the Regulation adds that the court may authorise a party not to reveal trade secrets when, in the court’s view, such disclosure is irrelevant to resolv- ing the matter at hand. Article 39 of Law No 8039 provides that when evi- dence relevant to a party’s case is under the control
of the other party, the judge may order that party to produce it, but only on the condition that the confi- dentiality of undisclosed information is guaranteed. 6. Know-How 6.1 Definition and Legal Basis of Know-How No response has been provided in this jurisdiction. 6.2 Protectability Requirements and Scope No response has been provided in this jurisdiction. 6.3 Ownership, Creation and Employee Know-How No response has been provided in this jurisdiction. 6.4 Protection Through Contract and Confidentiality No response has been provided in this jurisdiction. 6.5 Licensing and Assignment No response has been provided in this jurisdiction. 6.6 Reverse Engineering No response has been provided in this jurisdiction. 7. Data, AI and Emerging IP Issues 7.1 Data Rights and Database Protection Sui Generis Database Right Costa Rica has no sui generis database right. There is nothing equivalent to the EU Database Directive. The concept does not exist in Costa Rican IP law. Copyright Protection of Databases Databases and compilations can receive copyright protection under the Copyright Law (Law No. 6683). Trade Secret Protection A database can be protected as a trade secret under Law No 7975 if it meets three conditions: • it is not generally known or easily accessible; • the owner has taken reasonable measures to keep it confidential; and • it has commercial value because of its secrecy.
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