Piracy (Derecho Internacional)

INSTITUTO TECNOLOGICO Y DE ESTUDIOS SUPERIORES DE MONTERREY CAMPUS CHIHUAHUA DEPARTMENT OF LAW

“PIRACY”

NOVEMBER 24, 2010

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PREFACE The concept of piracy is very ancient and it was related to the idea of pirates stilling from ships at high sea. Now days the term “piracy” is applied to the infringement of intellectual property rights and trademarks. This investigation is oriented toanalyze Mexican legislation regarding piracy in the modern sense; about how piracy is treated under the legislation of the United States, the United Kingdom and Chile and a comparison of all legal systems. It is very interesting the evolution of piracy over the years, from the colony in Mexico and in the colony in the United States and the incipient form of protection of mainly the literaryproductions and books of that time. At present, governments are more concern and more aware about the implications of piracy in the global economies of countries; for the governments is a big harm due the huge amounts that they do not collect in taxes because of piracy. Further, as the time passes, the evolution of technology, the forms of piracy are growing tremendously, and piracy is more and moresophisticated; and therefore the legislations of all countries have to be updated in order to catch-up in the combat of piracy in all means; in addition the combat has to do with surveillance and controls, with more efficient regulation on the registry of copyrights and trademarks, educational campaigns creating conscience in people about the implications of using or buying piracy and its negativeimpacts to all.

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INTRODUCTION

The piracy, in the context that I will enlighten in this investigation, constitutes one ancient problem in a modern fashion, since the times of the pirates of the seas to the days of the cyber-pirates. In order to walk through this investigation, it starts with brief definitions of piracy and then concentrate in the legal aspect of it under the Mexican legalsystem, a brief description of Piracy in the legislation of the United States , the United Kingdom and the legislation of Chile and then focus in comparing the main aspects in all four legal systems, pointing out the similarities and differences, advantages and disadvantages. The term “piracy” in the four legal systems to be studied in this work of investigation does not exist exactly like that.Piracy is more a colloquial term to describe the fact of using the work of others without a rightful authorization. “At present the only legal instrument in the field of the copyright law that provides for a definition of “piracy” is the Agreement regarding aspects of the rights of intellectual property in relation to trade, (the Acuerdo sobre derechos de propiedad intellectual y comercio, theADPIC for its initial letters in Spanish) contained in article 51 n. 14 and that read as follows: piracy merchandise that harms rights of the author will be any copy made without the express consent of the holder of such right or by a person duly authorized for that purpose in the country of production and that are made directly or indirectly from an item when the production of such copy has beenconstituted a violation of the right of the author in terms of the applicable legislation of the country of origin.” 1 The definition of Piracy according to the Merrian Webster Dictionary is “: an act of robbery on the high seas; 2. robbery on the high seas 3. a : the unauthorized use of

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http://portal.unesco.org/culture/es/ev.phpURL_ID=39397&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html Article “Que esla Piratería?” [quoted 1-20-2010]

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another's production, invention, or conception especially in infringement of a copyright or b : the illicit accessing of broadcast”. 2

Other definition of Piracy is “the crime of robbery of ships or boats on the oceans. Accusation, trial and punishment of pirates may be under international agreement applicable anywhere, or under the laws of the...