In Costa Rica, a court decided to cancel the patent for the invention of the “canopy” that since 1998 was held in the name of a person, who charged tourism companies that carried out the activity.
On April 24, the Tribunal Registral Administrativo (Administrative Registry Court) decided to cancel the canopy patent that had been granted to the Darren Hreniuk, a Canadian national, which he received in October 1998 from the Registro de la Propiedad Industrial. (Industrial Property Registry).
The Court’s ruling argues that “… The patent elevated forest transport system with gravity propulsion, using harness and pulleys by a simple horizontal line, could not be granted for lack of novelty and because the issued technical report did not recommend it.”
Sergio Artavia, lawyer for the National Chamber of Tourism (Canatur), explained to Nacion.com that “… The members should not pay any amount for the use of the canopy because Darren Hreniuk does not hold any rights and anyone can use the system, so that a member who has negotiated or paid any amount, may ask for a judicial refund.”
Hreniuk’s defense rejects what was raised by Canatur’s lawyer, since it affirms that in 2017 the patent was ratified for his client.
The article adds that “… Jorge Mario Marín, Hreniuk’s lawyer, rejected Canatur’s arguments, since a ruling of Chamber 1 ratified the patent to the Canadian in 2017, after having been canceled on a first occasion in 2004. After a resolution of appeal like this one, there is no going back. It is a firm sentence, unappealable and any action in this sense would be a clear violation of the principle of legal certainty in matters of intellectual property.”
