Do you usually download videos, music or movies online? This practice has become very common for Internet users, which makes Costa Rica appear on the blacklist of countries that should be monitored for piracy.
Special Report 301, published by the USTR, carries out an in-depth analysis of the violation of intellectual property rights around the world.
According to this report, Costa Rica is among the first 25 countries in the world to be monitored for piracy. In the entire American continent, Costa Rica is preceded by Argentina, Chile, Venezuela, Canada and Mexico.
In Costa Rica, Law No. 6683 on Copyright and Related Rights indicates that copyright is permanent throughout the life of the author and that foreign works (including cinematographic works) enjoy the same protection as national works, including any benefit derived from such protection. Such rights include the exclusive right to authorize the reproduction, distribution, sale, marketing, and public communication of protected works, among others,”
said Guillermo Rodríguez, lawyer and expert on intellectual property from BLP.
In addition, Rodríguez commented that this is seen as a crime.
The most popular practice for piracy is when downloading illegal content through pages that offer lists of torrents that allow the download of high quality movies, books, software and music.
Some of the best actions against this was taken by the film distribution company Romaly, which designed a campaign for Costa Ricans to become aware of piracy.
Legal Torrents, a site that pretends to be an illegal downloads site by including torrents of upcoming movies, surprises users by providing only an excerpt of from the movie. The rest of the file contains an awareness message about piracy, and then the user receives two tickets to watch the film at the movie theater.