Carlos Carrasco is a journalist and professor at UCV and UCAB. He has been a consultant for multilateral agencies such as UNDP, ILO, and ECLAC.
Guacamaya, March 11, 2026. The National Assembly’s “Basic Legislative Plan 2026-2027” includes an Intellectual Property Law. Currently, the laws regulating this area are the Industrial Property Law (1955), which governs intangible assets in the industrial sector, and the Copyright Law (1993), which protects creators of intangible assets in the cultural world. With the cross-cutting presence of the Internet and Artificial Intelligence, both laws have become outdated.
For this reason, in the current context, an Intellectual Property Law is indeed necessary. Such a law should address various elements, such as creating a catalog of digital exceptions. This would allow the use of fragments of works for criticism or online teaching. We know that, in practice, this already happens in various educational institutions in the country, but there is a lack of updated legal support.
Likewise, within the framework of an Intellectual Property Law, there needs to be discussion about the lack of regulations when linking brand names and domain names on the web, as occurs in other countries. This problem presents itself in the following way: Suppose there is a case where someone registers another’s trademark as a domain to extort them; the owner of the trademark has no specific legal tools to act in Venezuela. In such cases, trademark registration should be integrated with the web domain name system to prevent traffic diversion as a form of unfair competition. In Chile, a similar model already exists that could be taken as a reference.
A law of this nature should not only repeal the aforementioned laws but also comply with the international agreements of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Furthermore, modernizing the Autonomous Service of Intellectual Property (SAPI) is urgent. Only with a clear framework in this area could a creative and digital economy with global reach be developed in Venezuela.
However, doubts about a new Intellectual Property Law persist in a country where impunity and the rule of law are fragile. Furthermore, there are elements that go beyond the State’s own degree of influence. For example, the consumption of digital piracy platforms in Venezuela is a publicly known fact. In 2025, the Institute for Information and Communication Research (IDICI) of UCAB, through its National Observatory on Communication and Culture, pointed out that one of the most widely used streaming platforms in the country is “Magis TV,” now known as “Super,” which are recognized as illegal platforms.
If there is a real desire to seize the opportunity to re-institutionalize the country, this cannot be a half-hearted process. Although most of the challenges are focused on combating corruption within the public administration, this matter of the Intellectual Property Law is an issue that concerns all of society.
If we want to recover the entertainment industry, if we want to deepen the use of quality software for research centers, if we want to utilize other financing mechanisms for public universities (through payment for books and publications), or if we want streaming platforms like Netflix to invest in generating original content made in Venezuela, this issue of intellectual property must be addressed.
Similarly, we must not forget how the lack of a current Intellectual Property Law has also allowed for unclear situations. One only needs to recall the case in 2021 involving the use of the Starbucks brand image for selling coffee in an establishment located in Las Mercedes, Caracas.
Attracting foreign private capital requires clear rules, not just gestures or photographs in presidential palaces. If the economy is a priority for the interim government, this law should be addressed in the medium term. However, no law on paper can withstand the concrete facts of reality. Without democratic institutions, it is impossible to talk about economic recovery.
