Creators of a work are granted protection once they have been registered in the "Intellectual Property Register" through the Department of State as prescribed by Article 359I of law number 96.  Works considered acceptable for registration and thus protection under the act are mentioned in Article 359ll Acceptable Works for Registration.  In summary (visit www.lexjuris.com for the original Spanish law), this law states the following:

"On the request of the author or his/her right bearers, books of any genre, literary works of any genre, graphic works, photographic works, musical compositions, sculptures, and the source code of any computer program and architectural designs may be registered in the Intellectual Property Registry" ²⁰
     The penalties associated with nonviolent illegal appropriation of intellectual property valued under two hundred (200) dollars includes a maximum of six (6) months imprisonment, a maximum fine of five hundred (500) dollars, penalty of restitution, or any combination of these penalties at the discretion of the court.  With works valued over two hundred (200) dollars any number of combinations of possible penalties in the form of fines, imprisonment, and restitution exist. ^21-22

     Compared to the global piracy rate of 36%, in 1999 Puerto Rico sustained a 48% pirac rate which was 12% points above the world average.  The piracy rate in Puerto Rico is following the same trend as those of the rest of the world, which have for the most part consistently decreased yearly from previous levels.  According to the Business Software Alliance (BSA), reasons for the decline include availability of software in global markets, legal presence of software companies in global markets, increased availability of global user support, decline in legal price for software, and government cooperation around the world in fighting software piracy. ⁵⁹
     Although global piracy rates have shown a deceasing trend, the increase in the levels of PC and software usage around the world has counterbalanced the effect of the decrease in global software piracy. ⁵⁹

   In order to analyze the progress Puerto Rico has made in the area of software piracy, a comparison of its piracy rates versus those of the Caribbean country of the Dominican Republic are compared below.

   As can be seen from the chart, Puerto Rico made most of its progress in reducing its piracy rate in 1996, decreasing the piracy rate by 21% from that of 1997.  Since then it has made some steady improvements of around 1-2% points each year.
   In comparison, the Dominican Republic managed to drop its software piracy rate by only 9% between the years of 1996-1997.  It has since shown improvements ranging from 1-6%per year.
   Offering the lowest piracy rates amongst all Latin American countries is a desirable state to be in for Puerto Rico as it attempts to lure big business to its shores.  However, the war against software piracy has not ended and the government of the island must  pursue policy that will allow it to match the lower piracy rate of the world or other, more developed        countries.

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