Costa Rican Tourist Board Will Defend Local Businesses in Canopy Patent Case

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On Friday, the Costa Rican tourist board (Canatur, its initials in Spanish) published a statement aimed at unifying canopy business owners and informing them of the legal ambiguities surrounding a recent court decision upholding a Canadian man who has operated the system since the 1990s in Costa Rica patent rights to the canopy technology.

Canatur said that a June 15 deadline announced by the lawyer of Darren Hreniuk, the patent holder, by which canopy businesses were requested to contact them to arrange for payment of royalties for using the canopy technology is not legally binding, according to the statement issued by Álvaro Sánchez A., communications coordinator for Canatur.

The tourism board clarified that only a competent court authority is able to define how much, and when and if such royalties should be paid.

Isabel Vargas, president of Canatur, said her entity will continue with a legal strategy in defense of canopy owners and national tourism by using all existing mechanisms possible within the legal system.

She said the imminent collection of royalty fees allegedly set at $10 per person for Costa Rican tourists and $15 per person for foreign tourists for companies who offer canopy tours is not a legally binding decision that has been issued by any court.

Canatur explained that the sentence delivered at the end of May in favor of the patent by the first chamber of the country’s supreme court rejected the plaintiff’s claim against canopy businesses in Costa Rica, and only stipulated that the state had to pay a compensation, whose amount has not been set. The high court ruling, said Canatur, does not grant any specific patent rights, much less stipulate the collection of royalties.

 

“The law allows us room to file legal actions, and as long as there is the possibility of defending the rights of businesses, we will do it,” said Vargas, who encouraged all potentially affected businesses to contact Canatur so the effort in defense of local canopy businesses can be a united one.

“We ask again the businesses to come to Canatur … we have elements in our favor; we ask you not to contact the owner of the patent until the legal actions we present are resolved,” added Vargas, who said the legal ruling contains ambiguities, and possibly errors, and is harmful to the local tourism industry,

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