A lawsuit filed Thursday with the Constitutional Court claims that parts of the new Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Colombia and the United States has procedural defects, reported local media.
Zubria Andres, a Colombian national, filed a complaint against the Lleras Act 2 of Bill 201, the latest attempt by the national government to make Colombia’s intellectual property laws fall in line with those of the United States.
The new FTA bill, which was passed on April 12, ushered in a myriad of new laws that will crack down on piracy and counterfeiting, creating stricter penalties for offenders.
Andres claimed that a clause expanding copyright protection from 50 to 70 years is unconstitutional.
He also pointed out that sections 13 and 14, which establish a four to eight year penalty for the transmission of television signals on the internet without permission, will also punish any user who links to news or TV programs that are published or broadcasted on a blog or website.
The copyright reform section of the bill has prompted much opposition from Colombian and American critics who feel the United States is forcing smaller countries to adopt stringent intellectual property laws that it hasn’t adopted itself.
A similar bill proposed in 2011 by then interior minister German Vargas Lleras was dismissed by analysts and prompted cyber attacks from the Internet hacking group Anonymous.
