Argentina will make changes in the Criminal Code to combat piracy

By Estudio Chaloupka

On April 4 the 14th edition of the Anti-Piracy and Content Tour Summit was held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, with nearly 150 attendees ready to discuss the national and regional problem of illegal Internet Protocol Television (IPTV). Under the name “Update legal tools against illegal streaming and IPTV", the event held several government authorities who took the stage and agreed on the current and pressing need of updating the national legal framework to protect Intellectual Property rights.

Among the authorities was Gustavo Schötz, National Director of the National Directorate of Copyright, who announced a long-awaited news by IP professionals and the TV industry: on 2018 the Argentinian government will move towards a modification of the Criminal Code, incorporating crimes against IP concerning copyright, trademarks and patents.

"New criminal types will be incorporated, mainly by the implementation of the WIPO treaties of 1996 and the Budapest Convention on cybercrimes”, Schötz informed. The WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT) is a special agreement under the Berne Convention which deals with the protection of works and the rights of their authors in the digital environment, while the Budapest Convention, signed in 2001, is the first international treaty on crimes committed via the Internet and other computer networks, dealing particularly with infringements of copyright, computer-related fraud, child pornography and violations of network security.