Your company has invested time and money in creating your brand, marketing, advertising on the web, and all that is required in branding protection among consumers to make your distinctive trademark a unique registered trademark in Costa Rica.
Despite this, in Costa Rica, your trademark is being targeted by illegal, counterfeit products similar to yours, with the use of your brand printed on them. Counterfeit products are not only illegal but can be dangerous and cause accidents due to the poor quality of the materials used for their manufacture and constitute a lousy business for your company since they mislead the consumer into believing that they are acquiring an original product when, fact, they are not. Counterfeiters do not respect their workers’ schedules or salaries; they do not pay taxes, much less are they interested in the quality of the counterfeit product; they are only interested in taking advantage of the reputation and reputation of their brand, their image, their creation, to sell counterfeit products. In Costa Rica, the counterfeiting, sale, storage, and distribution of counterfeit products are regulated by the Law of Procedures for the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights, in which these conducts are classified as crimes. The person who commits these offenses may be sentenced to up to five years of imprisonment.
The crime of trademark counterfeiting, sale, storage, and distribution of counterfeit products is a public action prosecutable at private instance, which means that, for the Public Prosecutor’s Office to intervene, it is an indispensable requirement that the victim or his representatives file a complaint, that is, to arrest the counterfeiter, it is necessary to file a complaint with the Prosecutor’s Office so that he can be prosecuted since the owners of the trademarks know their products better than anyone else; They know their logos, their models and their intellectual property, that is why the Public Prosecutor’s Office requires the filing of the complaint to investigate, to accuse and convict the infringers. Among the fundamental requirements to file a criminal complaint, it is required that the trademark is registered, guaranteeing the exclusive right to prevent third parties from using the brand in commercial operations without its consent, besides having the certainty that the product is fake. The collaboration of a lawyer to represent you in the criminal process is not required to have confidence in the name of the counterfeiter since that investigation is carried out by the Public Prosecutors of the Republic, making use of the tools that the Law confers them. These criminal complaints require the collaboration between the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the trademark representative, allowing them to detect and arrest counterfeiters more efficiently and better protect customers and owners of rights.
Branding protection includes the storage, distribution, and importation of counterfeit products. It consists of a wide scale of activities that can be criminally charged if proven and related to non-original products.
At AG Legal, we work closely with globally recognized brands to protect their intellectual and industrial property, reporting to the competent authorities cases of counterfeit products and conducting independent or joint investigations with brands to file civil and criminal litigation against counterfeiters.
