Information Technology Landscape
in COSTA RICA
Legal Environment
According to the U.S. Department of State's Costa Rica Country Commercial
Guide, "protecting your product from IPR infringement in Costa Rica is
sometimes significantly more problematic than in the U.S." In short,
patent protection is inadequate. However, in recent years, an effort
by businesses that are dependent upon a good IPR regime has been kicked
off in order to encourage the government to improve the enforcement efforts
against violators.
In addition, Costa Rica's legal system (based on Roman Law) is considerably
different from that of the United States.
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Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA)
The Free Trade Area of the Americas implementation by 2005 remains
to be a key goal for Costa Rica. Negotiations for the FTAA are to
begin during 1998. Chief among the recommendations is the private
sector's collective view of the intellectual property rights protection
in this proposed free trade area. However, it is generally thought
that "Costa Rica communique is especially ambiguous" on this issue.11
This could be a point against the country in its goal to be a high technology
mecca for Latin America. US and European-based companies who take
intellectual property rights protection very seriously may stray away from
the country unless this view is changed.
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Last updated December 18, 1998