President Laura Chinchilla
Fernando Quirós reports in the Tico Times that President Chinchilla of Costa Rica has signed a decree to protect photocopying of textbooks.
A new law was recently passed to bring the nation into compliance with the Central American Free Trade Agreement. Law 8,039 included criminal sanctions for IP crimes, as well as an exception for copying for academic uses. However, student groups were concerned that the exception would not apply to the for-profit copy shops that surround most universities – where most students buy low priced copies of texts. A bill that would strike the criminal provisions of Law 8,309 was passed by the legislature, then vetoed by President Chinchilla. Student groups held demonstrations protesting the veto, and some legislators suggested trying to override it. To end the dispute, the president issued an executive order to clarify that the exception for academic copies does apply to copies made at for-profit copy shops.
