– Copyright and Neighboring Rights Law, Law No. 6683 of October 14, 1982, as amended.
– Regulations to the Copyright and Neighboring Rights Law, Executive Decree No. 24611-J of September 4, 1995, as amended.
– Regulations pertaining to Software Protection in the Central Government, Executive Decree No. 30151-J of February 1, 2002.

– Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (text of 1971).
– WIPO Copyright Treaty, in force since March 6, 2002.
– WTO’s TRIPS Agreement, since January 1, 1995.
– Dominican Republic – Central America – United States of America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA), since November 21, 2007.
– The Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents (Apostille), since December 14, 2011.

Notion: any conjunction of words, codes, graphs and/or, designs, if incorporated into an automated reading device, can make a computer perform a certain task or obtain a result. For the purpose of protection, manuals and technical documentation are also included.

Kind of protection: computer software is considered as literary work and, as such, subject to copyright laws. Software per se is excluded from patent laws.

Registration: not compulsory, registration has probatory effects.

Rights recognized: moral and patrimonial.

Duration of patrimonial rights: lifetime of the author and up to seventy years after his death, in the case of successors.

Assignment: patrimonial rights only, requires Apostille or legalization up to the Costa Rican Consulate.

Exceptions to protection: single reproductions for personal use, done for non-commercial scientific or didactic purposes; single reproductions for security and backup reasons; storage in the user’s machine.

Infringement: may cause civil and/or criminal liability.

Employment relationship: employer is the owner of the patrimonial rights, employee of the moral rights.

Protection to foreigners: same rights as for nationals.

Filing requirements for an application (to be sent to resident agent):
1. Power of attorney, notarized;
2. Declaration of authorship, with Apostille or legalized by a Costa Rican Consulate;
3. Summary description;
4. 1 copy of the technical documentation and/or manual, if available (9 copies if it has been published); and
5. 1 copy of the software in a magnetic or optical medium (9 copies if it has been published).

Amendment of application: provided for.

Publication: in the Official Journal in case the software has been published. If it has not been published, publication in the Official Journal is not necessary and the registration certificate is granted after all formalities have been met.

Opposition to application: thirty days after publication.

Delivery of document: a certificate will be delivered to the applicant with the registration data and a brief description.

Disputes may be brought before the ordinary courts or before a board of arbitration composed by the legal counselor of the Technical Unit of the National Consumers Commission, a representative chosen by the parties from a list supplied by the Copyrights Registry and by the Director of the Copyrights Registry, or his representative. In case arbitration is chosen, the decision cannot be contested through any ordinary means.