COSTA RICA Law and Practice Contributed by: Harry Zurcher, Marco López Volio and Kristel Faith Neurohr, Zurcher, Odio & Raven
withdraw the work from circulation, subject to compensation to those harmed by their action. The various forms of use are independent of each other, so that authorisation to fix the work or production does not induce authorisation to perform or broadcast it, and vice versa. 3.5 Term of Protection and Termination Copyright will be permanent during a copyright owner’s lifetime. After their death, the copyright will be enjoyed for a period of 70 years by those who have legitimately acquired them. In cases involving a deceased estate, there will be no legal succession in favour of any State entity, so copyright ownership will immediately pass into the public domain. 3.6 Collective Rights Management Systems Articles 111 and 132 of the Copyright and relat - ed Rights Law provide for the possibility that authors and holders of related rights, in defence of their rights, act through representative organi - sations. Furthermore, Title IX of the Regulation of the Copyright and related Rights Law expands upon these legal provisions with regard to so- called Collective Management Societies, which, according to Article 48 of the Copyright and related Rights Law “are private legal entities whose sole and exclusive purpose is not profit or gain, but rather to protect the patrimonial rights of the holders of copyright and related rights, both national and foreign, recognised by the Law and international treaties ratified by the country; as well as to collect, on their behalf, and deliver the economic remuneration derived from the use of their works and intellectual productions entrusted to their administration by their asso-
ciates or represented parties, or by affiliates of foreign entities of the same nature”. As stated, these entities are authorised to collect and distribute the remunerations corresponding to the use of the works or productions subject to the related rights entrusted to them by the authors or their representatives. According to Article 52 of the Copyright and related Rights Law, this distribution must be carried out equita - bly and proportionally among the holders of the rights they manage. They are also empowered to exercise the entrusted rights and assert them in all kinds of administrative and judicial proceed - ings. This includes the authority to grant licences for the use of the managed rights and to estab - lish general tariffs that determine the remunera - tion required by authors for the use of their rep - ertoire (Articles 49 and 50 of the Copyright and related Rights Law). This is without prejudice to any legal actions the user of the protected work may take if they consider that the tariff estab - lished by a Collective Management Society for its public communication is abusive (Article 51 of the Copyright and related Rights Law). Some examples of Collective Management Societies are as follows. • The Association of Composers and Musical Authors of Costa Rica. This was created by musical authors and composers with the aim of collecting and distributing royalties. • The Costa Rican Performers’ Association (AIe, Costa Rica). This manages the related rights held by both Costa Rican and foreign musical performers, represented by means of reciprocity contracts signed with other similar organisations. Both are duly authorised by the Copyrights Office and are governed by both the Law of Associations and the Copyright and related Rights Law.
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