An Organic Law was recently promulgated to reform various laws to prevent and combat illegal trade, strengthen national industry and encourage e-commerce. It includes significant intellectual property and customs reforms as follows:
- The reforms to the Organic Criminal Code toughen the custodial sentence from six months to a year and a fine of up to 300 basic consolidated salaries for offenses relating to product counterfeiting; use of another’s trademarks; production of illicit labels or seals; and storage, production, offer or sale of products protected by industrial property rights such as trademarks, patents, industrial designs, plant varieties, etc. The same custodial sentence and fine will apply to those persons who use without authorization, alter, mutilate, publicly communicate, bring into the country, etc., works that are protected by copyright like literary works, software, audiovisual works and photographic works.
- Regarding border measures, which aim to prohibit exports or imports of products that infringe copyright or industrial property rights, these are simplified to give greater powers to implement bans on the entry or exit of goods with the direct participation of the holder of the affected rights.
Lastly, it ratifies the existence of a register of intellectual property rights which can be managed directly by the customs authority so that it can timely inform the holders of allegedly infringed rights so that the corresponding actions can be taken to ban imports and exports and implement sanctions.
Editorial Board
