Anti-counterfeiting in the Republic of Ecuador

Originally published August 2004

Despite the existence of national and Andean Community legislation protecting intellectual property rights as well as the adhesion by Ecuador to key international conventions on intellectual and industrial property rights, such as the Agreement on Trade-Related aspects of Intellectual Property (the TRIPS Agreement), Ecuador remains one of the countries in the region with the most prolific rates of piracy. Counterfeiting occurs across a variety of industry sectors including motion pictures and sound recording, alcoholic beverages, pharmaceutical products and consumer goods such as shampoos, batteries and toys. In March of this year, the video rental chain Blockbuster was forced to liquidate its franchise in Ecuador. According to news reports at the time of the franchise closure, Blockbuster’s sales had experienced a decline of approximately sixty percent since 2002. This decline was, reportedly, in large part due to the fact that while