RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONIP/C/W/222
16 November 2000
(00-4870)
Council for Trade-Related Aspects of
Intellectual Property RightsOriginal:  Spanish
REVIEW OF LEGISLATION
Replies by Chile to Questions Posed by the United States
By means of a communication from the Permanent Mission of Chile, dated
9 November 2000, the Secretariat has received the following replies to the questions on copyright
posed by the United States, which were circulated with other questions in document IP/C/W/215.
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2. Please explain how Chile's copyright law protects computer programs as literary works
and compilations of data as required by Article 10 of the TRIPS Agreement and cite to the
relevant provisions.
The current Law on Intellectual Property No. 17.336 of 1970 stipulates in Article 3, the
following:
"Article 3. – In particular, the following shall be protected under the present law:(1) books, pamphlets, articles and other writings, whatever may be the nature or form
thereof, including encyclopaedias, guidebooks, dictionaries, anthologies and
compilations of any kind;"
This provision includes compilations of any kind, inter alia , compilations of computer data.
However, the National Congress is currently examining a set of legal provisions amending
various domestic laws, including the Law on Intellec tual Property, so as to comply with Chile's
obligations under the TRIPS Agreement.  This draft law amends the above-mentioned Article 3, with
regard to compilations, with a view to clarifying and improving the level of protection.  The current
text of the draft law on this subject would incl ude paragraph 17 below in Article 3 of Law No. 17.336,
to read as follows:
"Article 3. – In particular, the following shall specifically be protected under the law:(17) Compilations of data or other material, whether in machine readable or other form,
which by reason of the selection or arrangement of their contents constitute
intellectual creations.  Such protection shall not extend to the data or material itself
and shall be without prejudice to any copyright subsisting in the data or material
contained in the compilation;"
Law No. 17.336 briefly refers to the protection of computer programs in Article 3,
paragraph 16, in the following terms:IP/C/W/222
Page 2
"Article 3. – In particular, the following shall be protected under the present law:
(16) Computer programs."
The above-mentioned draft law now being examined replaces paragraph 16 above by the
following:
"(16) Computer programs, whatever their mode or form of expression, whether in source or
object code, and including the preparatory documentation, their technical description and
operating manuals,"
In addition, it should be noted that Article 5 of Law No. 17.336 on Intellectual Property,
provides the following definition:
"(t) Computer program  means a set of instructions for direct or indirect use in a computer
for the carrying out of a particular process or the achievement of a particular result,which instructions are embodied in a cassette, diskette, magnetic tape or other
material medium.
Copy of a computer program  means a physical medium containing instructions taken
directly or indirectly from a computer program, and incorporating all or a substantialamount of the instructions constituting the said program."
The draft amendment now being examined states more clearly the protection granted by the
law to computer programs.
3. Article 11 of the TRIPS Agreement requires th at rental rights be provided for computer
programs and cinematographic works in most instances and Article 14 requires that rental
rights be provided to the producers of phonograms.  Please describe the manner in which rental
rights are provided right holders in these works and phonograms and cite to the relevant
provisions of Chile's copyright law.
The rental of works protected by copyright is expressly protected only with regard to
cinematographic works (Article 29) and phonograms (A rticle 68), in both cases for the benefit of the
producers.
However, the draft amendment now being examined includes a new paragraph (e) in
Article 18 of Law No. 17.336, granting a new exclusive right to the holders, as follows:
"Article 18 – The owner of the copyright or an yone expressly so authorized by him shall have
the exclusive right to use the work in any of the following forms:
(a) …
(b) …
(c) …
(d) …
(e) to authorize or prohibit its rental to the public for commercial purposes, whether it be
the original or a copy."
In addition, the amendment also provides for a second paragraph to be added to Article 45, to
read as follows:IP/C/W/222
Page 3
"Similarly, the provisions contained in Article 18(e) shall not be applicable to computer
programs, when they are not the main subject of the rental."
The above-mentioned draft amendment, with regard to related rights, introduces a completely
new Article 66 in Law 17.336, and paragraph 4 of the amended Article specifically covers rentals, inthe following terms:
"Article 66 – In respect of performances, the following acts are prohibited without the
performer's express consent or the consent of his or her heir or assignee:
(1) The recording, reproduction, broadcasting or rebroadcasting by broadcasting
organizations, or the use by any means, for purposes of profit, of such performances;
(2) the fixation in a phonogram of his or her unfixed performances, and the reproduction
of such fixation;
(3) the broadcasting by wireless means or the communication to the public of his or her
live performance;
(4) the commercial rental to the public of the original and of copies of his or her
performances fixed in phonograms".
With the amendments proposed and now being examined, rental rights are protected in
general terms and for all classes of works and, in the case of phonograms, the rental right is protected
for both the performers and the producers, in accordance with the provisions of the TRIPS
Agreement.
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