Mexico City, February 14, 2023.
The First Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) resolved a direct amparo under review where it determined that the distinction that exists in the Federal Copyright Law that only permits natural persons to be authors is constitutionally valid.
The First Chamber concluded that it should apply a weak level of scrutiny to the distinction in question. Under this level of scrutiny, it is enough that the different legal treatment given to natural persons with respect to legal entities has a legitimate objective, that it is potentially adequate to achieve the objective and that it is not prohibited by the constitution or international treaties.
Because the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States recognizes the protection of copyright, and also because there are reasons of social justice and cultural development that justify it, the distinction of recognizing authorship only to natural persons pursues a legitimate goal.
In the same way, it was considered that the creation of a work can only be attributed to the effort of a natural person and that copyright is an exclusive human right of human beings. However, legal entities are not unprotected, since they can acquire the author’s economic rights over the work, as well as enjoy related rights for their efforts to make the works available to the public.
The copyright and entertainment law department of our firm is at your service for any questions or comments on this subject and to help both individuals and legal entities in the protection of their works.
SINCERELY,
Juan Carlos Hernández
Eduardo Castañeda
Mariana Vargas
Santiago Zubikarai
Luis Alberto Gonsen
