/ 2026 Legislative Agenda on Intellectual Property Protection
February 17, 2026Associate Lawyer Alessandri Abogados
The phenomenon and proliferation of trade in counterfeit goods goes far beyond the simple purchase of items of inferior quality and manufacture. Often, they are merely a gateway to another of the many lucrative activities chosen by criminal groups with transnational economic and logistical capabilities, who see trade in counterfeit goods as a highly attractive way to diversify their income, as it is an illicit economy valued at more than $467 billion worldwide, accounting for 2.3% of total global imports according to official figures[1].
In addition to posing a threat to security and public order, it is a true parallel economy that operates to the direct detriment of the treasury and puts the health of its consumers at risk. This, combined with advances in technology, the sophistication of the manufacture of these products, and the ease of marketing them through e-commerce, poses a legislative challenge to adapt our industrial and intellectual property regulations to international protection standards.
The following bills, currently being debated in Congress, aim to modernize industrial and intellectual property legislation in order to speed up the prosecution of these crimes, increase penalties according to their danger to consumer health, and adopt measures to tackle growing digital piracy.
Public criminal action and aggravating circumstances for health effects (Bulletin No. 17915-25)
The current status of crimes covered by Law 19.039 on Industrial Property corresponds to those of private prosecution, where the investigation of the facts cannot be carried out without the filing of charges by the victim or the affected party. Thus, this bill aims to grant public criminal action for crimes contrary to the industrial property law, which can be prosecuted ex officio by the Public Prosecutor’s Office and such acts can be reported by any person, equating – with good reason – to the treatment received by crimes contrary to Law 17,336 on intellectual property, in which public criminal action is already provided for. In this way, the aim is to streamline criminal prosecution and increase the number of cases brought as a result of these offenses, which currently account for 0.34% of all crimes nationwide[2].
This bill establishes a special aggravating circumstance for cases in which the counterfeit product poses a risk to public health, which we believe is a wise move, as counterfeiting goes far beyond the simple marketing of inferior quality products. These are products that can directly compromise public health and consumer safety, especially when they involve corrosive and flammable technological devices, cosmetics, and medicines. The figures for the latter are alarming: in 2017, the WHO estimated that 1 in 10 medicines circulating on the world market were counterfeit[3][4], while in Chile, the trade in illegal medicines has seen a steady increase, reaching a total of more than 17.5 million doses seized in 2024.
In particular, the bill adds an additional paragraph to Article 28 bis of Law 19.039, which states that “In the event that the counterfeit goods pose a risk to public health, the penalty shall be increased by one degree,” with prison sentences of up to five years.
With these reforms, the legislature seeks to equalize the conditions between trademark infringement crimes and copyright violations, allowing for ex officio investigation, providing more effective tools to combat organized crime and address the marketing of counterfeit products, and establishing more severe penalties for particularly risky items.
Crimes against industrial property as a basis for money laundering (Bulletin No. 17912-25)
There is a close relationship between crimes against industrial and intellectual property and money laundering, as they constitute a true parallel illicit economy. We are currently dealing with structured criminal groups with transnational logistical and operational capabilities and an organization designed to conceal the identity of its actors, as well as the origin and destination of the resources used to bring large quantities of counterfeit products into the country. The trade in counterfeit goods presents an opportunity to diversify their illicit activities, as it is a highly lucrative business with less severe penalties compared to other crimes they normally face.
Recent news reports of raids in downtown Santiago[5], which led to the dismantling of mafias linked to drug trafficking, kidnapping, illegal casinos, and, of course, trade in counterfeit goods, only confirm that the sale of counterfeit products is yet another source of financing for these highly dangerous criminal groups. The harmful consequences of illicit trade do not stop there: they seriously compromise public safety, can dangerously affect consumer health, and have a negative impact on formal employment and tax collection.
On this point, the initiative in Congress aims to update current regulations on the prevention and prosecution of money laundering, incorporating the crimes of trademark misuse and trademark counterfeiting as predicate offenses for money laundering, in addition to the crime of piracy, covered by intellectual property law, already provided for by the regulation.
In this context, the reform will seek to close regulatory gaps and address both behaviors on an equal footing, facilitating their investigation and prosecuting them with the severity required by international standards for the protection of intellectual and industrial property.
The reactivation of the bill to combat piracy – Technological Protection Measures (Bulletin No. 14767-03)
In April 2025, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) published a report that placed Chile on a priority watch list in view of the state of protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights among the country’s trading partners. This report was a clear signal to lawmakers to increase efforts to combat piracy and counterfeiting, in line with the standards of the Free Trade Agreement with the United States (FTA). In response, Congress is currently discussing a series of bills that seek to toughen penalties against counterfeiting and piracy, facilitating criminal prosecution and enhancing technological protection mechanisms.
Thus, this third legislative focus consists of reactivating the bill that seeks to implement Technological Protection Measures (TPMs) based on the commitments made in the Free Trade Agreement with the United States. The initiative aims to update our legislation on intellectual property protection, defining and establishing penalties for those who circumvent these TPMs.
First, the bill seeks to introduce the definition of such TPMs as “tany technology, procedure, device, component, or combination thereof, whose function is to control access to or use of works and/or performances protected by copyright, preventing all acts that are not authorized by the owners of the rights to the corresponding works and/or performances or by law.”
Based on these definitions, the bill classifies and punishes conduct related to the circumvention of these measures—such as hacking or cracking—to access copyrighted works, such as software or audiovisual works available on streaming platforms. Thus, the bill seeks to incorporate the following articles into the current Intellectual Property Law No. 17,336:
Article 81 bis letter a): Establishes penalties of imprisonment or minor confinement at the minimum level or a fine of 5 to 1,000 UTM for anyone who circumvents an MTP to misuse a work, performance, phonogram, or other material protected by copyright or related rights.
Article 81 bis letter b): Establishes penalties for anyone who manufactures, imports, or sells, among other things, devices or components that have been designed, produced, or adapted for the purpose of circumventing any TPM, provided that this has been done maliciously and for commercial purposes.
Article 81 ter: Establishes fines for anyone who—maliciously and for profit—markets, manufactures, imports, distributes, sells, leases, or provides services that are promoted, advertised, or marketed for the purpose of circumventing any TPM.
The bill seeks to change the approach to prosecuting this type of crime against intellectual property law beyond those who use copyrighted works without authorization, also focusing on those who “break the lock” that protects such works, establishing an autonomous crime that extends even to those who facilitate access through the marketing of devices adapted for these purposes, such as “unlocked” video game consoles, which are very popular in commercial hubs for counterfeit products, or “jailbroken” phones that allow users to circumvent software restrictions imposed by their manufacturers, generally to access pirated versions of paid applications.
The initiative seeks to update our legislation in line with international intellectual property protection standards, strengthening our ability to respond to the challenges posed by technological advances in the proliferation of new forms of infringement.
These bills represent a substantial step forward in addressing the challenges posed by counterfeiting and piracy, phenomena that are now closely linked to high-profile crimes such as money laundering and organized crime. The incorporation of tools that allow for ex officio criminal prosecution, the creation of special aggravating circumstances, and the broadening of the spectrum of conduct punishable under intellectual and industrial property regulations recognizes that we are not dealing with simple commercial infringements, but with components of illicit economies with dire consequences for public safety, consumer health, and tax collection.
These reforms are expected to lead to an increase in the prosecution of cases related to the trade in counterfeit products. Likewise, digital enforcement is expected to be strengthened and international pressure to comply with global standards is expected to increase, making intellectual property protection a key strategy for business sustainability and competitiveness in the pursuit of lawful, safe, and fair trade.
This column was originally published in El Mercurio Legal.
Bibliography
OECD. (May 7, 2025). OECD. Retrieved from Mapping Global Trade in Fakes 2025: https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/mapping-global-trade-in-fakes-2025_94d3b29f-en.html
WHO. (December 3, 2024). World Health Organization. Retrieved from Substandard and counterfeit medical products: https://www.who.int/es/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/substandard-and-falsified-medical-products
UNICEF. (June 10, 2023). UN News: Global View Human Stories. Retrieved from Illicit trafficking in the Sahel: fake medicines, real deaths: https://news.un.org/es/story/2023/06/1521792
Vergara, D. (December 3, 2025). Raids continue in the RM for “Chinese mafia” linked to drugs, kidnappings, and smuggling. Retrieved from Biobiochile.cl: https://www.biobiochile.cl/noticias/nacional/region-metropolitana/2025/12/03/continuan-los-allanamientos-en-la-rm-por-mafia-china-ligada-a-drogas-secuestros-y-contrabando.shtml
[1] (OECD, 2025)
[2] STATISTICAL BULLETIN III QUARTER January – September 2025.
[3] (WHO, 2024)
[4] In Africa, it is estimated that fake malaria drugs kill 267,000 people annually, while some 170,000 children die each year from unauthorized antibiotics. (UNICEF, 2023)
[5] (Vergara, 2025)
