7 Cajas directors fighting against piracy

By Valeria Carron & Jazmin Hamuy, Berkemeyer Attorneys & Counselors

The Paraguayan movie with highest international recognitions so far, “7 Cajas” (7 boxes), was exhibited during the Washington DC Film Fest on April 16, 2013. The projection of this movie was held by the Inter- American Development Bank (IADB)´s Cultural Center as a way to promote Latin American and Caribbean filmmakers.

Meanwhile, the movie is suffering serious damages due to piracy. The executive director of this movie, Ms. Vicky Ramírez, speaking on behalf of the directors Maneglia Schembori Realizadores SRL., indicated that they have detected that, unfortunately, the film has been projected without the corresponding authorization in some public spaces as well as on the Internet.

Ms. Ramirez continued her statement claiming that these piracy acts are punished by the Paraguayan Criminal Law since the owners of the movie acquired intellectual property rights over the film, and that they will enforce said rights.

Moreover, Juan Carlos Maneglia, co- director of the film, said that he has been informed that the movie was illegally uploaded to the Internet by an European Server two weeks ago. Also, a Paraguayan user tried to upload the movie, but he was denounced for the infringement of copyright.

Maneglia mentioned that piracy has a huge impact on the promotion of the film, and that people do not realize the damage caused by this illegal distribution of movies via Internet. He wishes that the Paraguayan film industry grows and that people can invest in filmmaking without the fear that illegal copies of movies circulate and cause devastating effects.