Jorge Mario Marín, legal representative of the inventor of the canopy and its patent holder in Costa Rica, responded to a recent announcement by the Costa Rican Chamber of Tourism (CANATUR) in which they said they would follow on the recent court ruling that returned the patent to its inventor.

“We find it very unfortunate that the authorities of the National Chamber of Tourism (CANATUR) have instructed canopy operators to continue operating without the authorization of the canopy patent holder Darren Hreniuk after the final court ruling that returned the patent of his invention to us after a process that took more than a decade to be processed.

We recall once again that after a cassation court resolution like this there is no going back. This is a firm decision, which is unappealable, and any attempts thereof to ignore the ruling would undermine the principle of legal certainty in the field of intellectual property.

It would not surprise us that what these business operators seek is to buy time until the patent expires, and thus avoid paying their obligations to the inventor.

That is why we once again appeal to all canopy operators in the country to be reasonable and approach the patent holder for this activity in Costa Rica to negotiate, so they can operate in a legally correct way without problems. Our intention is to reach agreements that allow operators to continue working normally and, to jointly take actions to modernize and further specialize this activity in the country, which will bring benefits Costa Rican tourism and Costa Rica in general.

Likewise, we call on all government entities and municipalities that grant the operating permits to  canopy operators so that, based on the final court resolution, they request tourist companies with canopies as part of their facilities to present a document issued by the patent holder with its authorization for its operation, and this avoid future possible legal actions of closures of the canopies.

Several canopy operators and entrepreneurs have already approached us and we hope to reach agreements that will benefit them all, since our intention at no time is to close businesses or hurt the industry, but to contribute to the growth of the tourism sector.”