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Dominican Republic Urges Government Agencies to Invest in Licensed Software for 2025
By Guzmán Ariza, Attorneys at Law
The National Copyright Office of the Dominican Republic has issued a formal request to 36 government agencies, urging them to allocate funds for the purchase of licensed software in their 2025 budgets. This initiative underscores the nation's commitment to ensuring the use of legally acquired software across all government sectors.
It aims to ensure that all government software is legally licensed and compliant with Law 65-00, the country’s primary copyright legislation. This law protects the intellectual property rights of authors and creators of literary, artistic, and scientific works.
By adhering to this directive, the Dominican Republic seeks to avoid being listed on the U.S. Trade Representative's (USTR) Special 301 Report, which highlights countries with significant concerns about intellectual property enforcement.
Altough the USTR has constantly noted that unlicensed software use remains prevalent in the Dominican Republic, including within government entities, the Dominican Republic made progress in addressing these and other concerns this year.
In 2024 the USTR removed the country from its Watch List, recognizing improvements such as increased enforcement actions, enhanced interagency cooperation against signal piracy, better resource allocation, publicly available enforcement statistics, a rise in specialized IP prosecutors and efforts against counterfeit medicines.
The Dominican Republic is committed to continue enforcing actions against copyright infringement and signal piracy, and to further enhance its capacity through ongoing training and collaboration with the United States.
Guzmán Ariza, Attorneys at Law
Guzmán Ariza is a leading full-service law firm in the Dominican Republic, consistently ranked among the country’s top-tier firms by the most prominent global legal directories such as Chambers and Partners and The Legal 500.
With ten strategically located offices across the nation's principal business and tourism hubs, we are uniquely positioned to support clients in seizing opportunities within the largest and fastest-growing economy in Central America and the Caribbean.
Our multilingual team is well-versed in advising international clients across a broad spectrum of practice areas. In the field of intellectual property, we offer robust counsel and representation in both commercial transactions and litigation. Our services cover trademark and trade name protection, copyright and patent registration and enforcement, as well as licensing, assignments, and the transfer of IP rights.
Guzmán Ariza is globally connected through active memberships in prominent international legal networks, enabling us to effectively support cross-border matters and multinational transactions.