Protecting the Soul of Costa Rican Design: Supporting Local Brands

Costa Rica’s Design Spirit Meets Legal Reality

Costa Rica’s design scene is blooming with purpose. From surfwear that captures the rhythm of the Pacific to sustainable fashion lines stitched with ecological intent, local creators are shaping a visual identity that’s unmistakably Tico. Whether it’s a handcrafted chair inspired by volcanic stone or a Boruca-patterned beach towel made from organic cotton, the products emerging from this creative economy are more than just goods—they're stories, values, and heritage rendered tangible.

And yet, for all the passion poured into these projects, there’s often a key element missing behind the scenes: legal protection. Many Costa Rican designers and entrepreneurs don’t realize that their creative assets—brand names, patterns, packaging, logos—can be legally protected and, more importantly, monetized. The result? Brilliant ideas risk being copied, diluted, or even hijacked by better-prepared competitors. In some cases, designers have had to fight for the rights to their own name or logo in foreign markets simply because they didn’t secure local rights first.

Whether you’re an artisan experimenting with wood and textiles, a surfwear label based in Jacó, or an eco-lifestyle startup in San José, understanding how to use intellectual property (IP) to protect and grow your brand could make the difference between building a local following and becoming a regional—or even international—player.

Let’s explore how legal tools like trademarks, design rights, copyright, and geographical indications aren’t just formalities—they’re creative armor. Think of IP as your brand’s legal surfboard: it keeps your identity afloat, even in choppy commercial waters.

The Rise of Local Design: A Cultural and Economic Asset

Costa Rica’s creative sector has never been more vibrant. Across the country, surfwear brands are weaving coastal identity into fabric, while sustainable fashion labels are redefining what it means to wear one's values. In workshops from Escazú to Tamarindo, artisans are shaping reclaimed wood, recycled metals, and natural fibers into statement furniture, jewelry, and home décor. What once may have been dismissed as “craft” is now part of a design movement—fueled by purpose, pride, and a growing market for originality rooted in place.

A defining feature of Costa Rican design is how it blends tradition with innovation. Indigenous motifs from Bribrí and Boruca communities find their way into contemporary textiles and accessories. Tropical hardwoods, volcanic stone, and recycled plastics are not just materials—they're statements about sustainability, connection to nature, and local ingenuity. These aren’t random design choices; they are deliberate efforts to reflect Costa Rica’s cultural and environmental DNA. It’s design that doesn’t just look good—it means something.

And that meaning is increasingly recognized abroad. Costa Rican design studios are being featured in international trade fairs. Sustainable fashion lines are being stocked in global concept stores. Even niche online boutiques in Europe and the U.S. are sourcing artisan-made Costa Rican goods. But with international interest comes risk. We've already seen cases where foreign entities reproduce or “reinterpret” Costa Rican-inspired designs without acknowledgment or compensation—blurring the line between admiration and appropriation.

Cultural appropriation isn’t just a social issue—it’s a legal one, too. When a surfwear brand lifts indigenous symbols for marketing without any connection to the source community, or when a European manufacturer replicates a handcrafted bag design with tropical materials, it not only undermines the originators but creates real commercial loss. What’s worse is that without registered intellectual property rights, local brands have limited or no recourse when these infringements occur.

Design in Costa Rica is not just about style—it’s storytelling. It communicates who we are, how we live, and what we value. Each pattern, material, and silhouette often carries a message rooted in community, geography, or sustainability. Protecting this work through legal channels ensures that the creators behind it can retain ownership of their narrative, benefit from their labor, and continue contributing to the cultural and economic fabric of the country.

This isn’t about turning creativity into bureaucracy—it’s about giving it structure. By pairing artistic identity with legal recognition, Costa Rican brands can move from the workshop to the international marketplace with confidence. That’s how we protect not just the soul of our design, but its future.

Trademarks: Your Brand’s First Line of Defense

When people think of a brand, they often picture a logo or a catchy name. But from a legal standpoint, those visual and verbal identifiers are more than just creative assets — they’re protectable trademarks. In Costa Rica, trademarks can shield your brand name, logo, slogan, label design, and even distinctive color combinations or typographic styles. If it's what customers recognize you by, chances are it’s something worth protecting.

Registering a trademark with Costa Rica’s Registro de la Propiedad Industrial grants you exclusive rights over the use of that mark in your registered category of goods or services. This means no one else can legally use a confusingly similar name or logo to market similar products. It’s not just a badge of identity — it’s legal armor. If a competitor tries to imitate your brand or sow confusion in the market, a registered trademark gives you solid legal ground to stop them.

Unfortunately, many Costa Rican entrepreneurs and designers make the same critical mistakes. They choose names that are too descriptive or generic — like “Eco Moda” for sustainable fashion or “Surf Costa” for beachwear. These types of names are difficult, if not impossible, to register because they don’t distinguish your brand from others in the same industry. Others skip registration altogether, assuming that using the name first is enough. It’s not. In the IP world, rights come from registration, not just use.

Another oversight is failing to think internationally. A brand that starts by selling locally at markets or beachside pop-ups can quickly grow through online sales and tourism exposure. If that brand name is not protected abroad — for example, through registration in the United States, Europe, or via the Madrid Protocol — you may face copycats overseas or, worse, be blocked from entering new markets by someone else who registered your name first. The road to international success should start with a trademark strategy, not end with a legal dispute.

The best approach is proactive. Register your mark early. Think not just about what represents your brand now, but what will represent it as you scale. And if you're unsure whether your name is distinctive enough or whether your logo might face registration issues, consult an IP attorney who can help tailor your brand protection plan to your goals. In short: don't wait until someone copies your brand to take it seriously. Your trademark should grow with your business — not lag behind it.

Industrial Designs & Copyright: Safeguarding Shapes, Patterns, and Style

Not all design protection begins and ends with a logo. Many Costa Rican creators pour their creative energy into tangible, visual elements that define a product’s identity—whether it’s the flowing silhouette of a linen dress, the carved lines of a teakwood bench, or the distinct aesthetic of a handmade soap’s packaging. For these cases, intellectual property law offers two powerful (but often misunderstood) tools: industrial designs and copyright.

Industrial design protection in Costa Rica applies when the visual form or configuration of a product has aesthetic value. Think of the outline of a handbag, the contour of a lamp, or the external shape of a perfume bottle. These are not inventions, and they don’t need to be functional. Their value lies in how they look, not what they do. To protect them, you must register the design with the Registro de la Propiedad Industrial before making it public. Once registered, that design is shielded from imitation for five years, renewable up to 15.

On the other hand, copyright comes into play the moment an original creative work is fixed in a tangible form. If a textile artist in Guanacaste hand-paints tropical motifs for fabrics, or if a digital designer in San José creates a line of packaging illustrations, their work is automatically protected by copyright law—even if they never file a registration. However, registration with Costa Rica’s Registro Nacional is strongly encouraged. It strengthens enforcement, simplifies licensing, and helps prove authorship in case of legal disputes.

It’s important to note that copyright and industrial design protection don’t cover the same aspects. A chair’s ergonomic function is not protectable—but its unique visual style might be. A dress’s ability to stay cool in the heat is a technical feature; its graphic print of toucans in flight, however, could be copyrighted artwork. This distinction between utility and expression is key: IP law protects what pleases the eye, not what solves a problem.

Costa Rican brands can (and should) layer these protections. Imagine a home décor studio that releases a new collection: they might copyright the botanical patterns on their fabric covers, register the industrial design of their vases, and trademark the name of the collection. Each layer addresses a different aspect of their creative output, and together, they build a stronger legal wall against copycats.

Design is the soul of many Costa Rican businesses—expressed in shape, texture, color, and movement. Failing to protect those expressions is like leaving your best work unguarded. With the right IP tools in place, designers don’t just defend their style—they turn it into a business asset ready for growth, licensing, or export.

Geographical Indications and Cultural Heritage

Some products don’t just come from Costa Rica—they belong to it. Their shapes, colors, materials, and techniques are inseparable from the land and the people who craft them. This is where intellectual property meets cultural identity, and where geographical indications (GIs) play a crucial role. A GI is a type of IP right that links a product’s quality, reputation, or characteristics to a specific geographic origin. It tells the world: “this could only have come from here.”

In Costa Rica, traditional crafts like the carretas de Sarchí (hand-painted ox carts), máscaras Boruca (carved ceremonial masks), and cerámica Chorotega (pre-Columbian pottery techniques) are strong candidates for GI protection. These are not just beautiful objects—they reflect centuries of knowledge passed down through generations, often rooted in indigenous or rural communities. Protecting them isn’t just a legal question—it’s a matter of cultural preservation and economic development.

Formalizing this protection can take several shapes. A GI is ideal when the product’s identity is closely tied to a location and tradition. Collective marks offer another tool, allowing artisan cooperatives or local associations to certify their products as part of a recognized tradition. There’s also growing interest in “cultural IP policies,” where governments or communities define protocols for the respectful use of traditional knowledge, especially in design and fashion.

Why does this matter for today’s entrepreneurs and designers? Because many Costa Rican brands are already drawing inspiration from these cultural assets. Incorporating a Boruca pattern into a handbag, or referencing Chorotega shapes in home décor, is a form of creative dialogue. But when this happens without credit, collaboration, or legal frameworks, it can cross into appropriation—or worse, exploitation. IP law offers the tools to move toward respectful partnership instead.

By involving local communities in design collaborations, brands not only gain authenticity—they also help preserve the heritage that makes their products unique. And when these collaborations are backed by legal protections like GIs or collective marks, they offer long-term value to both the brand and the community. The artisan isn’t just a supplier—they become a co-owner of the narrative.

Costa Rica’s cultural heritage is more than a marketing aesthetic—it’s a living, evolving body of knowledge. Protecting it through the right IP structures ensures that it thrives, benefits those who steward it, and inspires the next wave of Costa Rican design without being erased in the process.

Real-Life Scenarios and Case Studies

Let’s imagine a young surfwear brand based in Nosara. It began with a few local artists screen-printing organic cotton t-shirts with designs inspired by the Pacific coast—wave patterns, sea turtles, and pre-Columbian symbolism. The brand grew quickly, gaining popularity among travelers who carried their shirts back to Europe and North America. One day, the founders discover a retailer in Spain selling suspiciously similar shirts: same motifs, similar layout, but under a different name. They’re upset—but they’re also relieved. Why? Because they had registered both their trademark and the visual designs of their shirts with the Registro de la Propiedad Industrial in Costa Rica. That decision made it possible to take action.

With the help of legal counsel and EU partners, the brand files a claim for design infringement in the European Union. Thanks to reciprocal agreements and the Hague System for the International Registration of Industrial Designs, they’re able to enforce their rights abroad. Customs authorities in Spain even agree to intercept future shipments of the knockoff shirts. It’s not a simple process—but without prior registration, the entire enforcement route would have been closed to them. Their designs would’ve been treated as “inspiration” rather than property.

Now shift to San José. A streetwear label, known for its bold fonts and graffiti-style logo, is preparing to raise capital from investors to scale its distribution and production. During due diligence, a key question comes up: do you own the rights to your brand? The founders proudly produce their trademark registration for the label name and logo. Even more compelling, they’ve registered the cut of their signature jacket as an industrial design. That legal diligence becomes a key factor in the investor’s decision to fund their growth. It signals not just creativity, but business maturity.

Both hypotheticals demonstrate something many creatives overlook: that IP transforms original work into business leverage. Without legal protection, a design is vulnerable to being copied, diluted, or commercialized by someone else. But with the right registrations in place, that same design becomes a protected asset—one that can be defended, licensed, sold, or used to build investor trust. It’s the difference between owning your story and hoping others don’t steal it.

These scenarios also reflect how IP protection empowers small brands to stand on equal footing in global markets. You don’t need to be a multinational to use legal tools effectively. In fact, Costa Rica’s legal framework, combined with international systems like the Madrid Protocol and Hague Agreement, gives local designers the means to assert their rights far beyond our borders—so long as they act early and strategically.

For Costa Rican creators, these are more than hypotheticals. They’re cautionary tales and roadmaps at once. Whether you’re crafting handwoven bags in Limón or running a boutique fashion label in Escazú, treating your creativity as property—not just expression—opens new doors and protects the ones you’ve already walked through.

Intellectual Property Culture and Education for Innovation

One of the most decisive elements to strengthen the Costa Rican creative ecosystem is the development of a genuine culture of respect for and knowledge of intellectual property. It is not enough for laws to exist or for registries to be available; it is essential that designers, entrepreneurs, and consumers understand the strategic value embedded in the protection of distinctive signs and creations. In many cases, the lack of information leads emerging talents to postpone the registration of their trademarks or designs, leaving them exposed to misappropriation or the loss of business opportunities.

Education in intellectual property must begin in classrooms and extend to continuous training programs for entrepreneurs and design professionals. Universities, business chambers, and state entities can play a central role in this effort by developing initiatives that translate legal language into practical tools for the management of trademarks and creative works. A society with a stronger intellectual property culture is, consequently, a more innovative society, as it recognizes that creativity deserves protection and reward.

Equally important is consumer awareness. By understanding that purchasing legitimate products directly supports local creators and combats informality, the public contributes to the strengthening of the creative sector. Thus, the protection of intellectual property is not only a legal matter but also a shared commitment among institutions, businesses, and citizens.

Ultimately, a solid intellectual property culture serves as the foundation for creators to recognize the value of protecting their works and for consumers to appreciate the importance of supporting originality. This educational and awareness-based foundation constitutes the first step toward strengthening the creative ecosystem and preparing the ground for a more competitive international projection.

Global Challenges and Sustainability Opportunities in Protecting Local Brands

In an increasingly globalized and digitalized environment, the protection of trademarks and designs extends not only to local registrations but also to the use of technological tools to monitor infringements. Platforms such as the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and its online enforcement systems allow creators to track the unauthorized use of their designs in international markets and, in some cases, activate customs protection measures. For Costa Rican entrepreneurs, these tools represent an opportunity to more effectively safeguard their rights and prevent imitations from entering global distribution channels.

Moreover, the sustainable dimension of Costa Rican design offers added value that can be enhanced through intellectual property. By registering trademarks and certifications linked to ecological practices, companies not only differentiate their products but also build trust among consumers who increasingly demand traceability and environmental responsibility. The international trend toward green labels, eco-brands, and sustainability certifications reinforces the importance of linking legal protection with the environmental commitment that characterizes national design.

Equally relevant is the role of digitalization in the promotion and protection of local brands. The growth of e-commerce and platforms such as Etsy, Amazon Handmade, and global social networks has opened unprecedented showcases for artisans and designers. However, this has also increased the risk of immediate copying in foreign markets. Incorporating international registration strategies—such as the Madrid System for trademarks or the Hague Agreement for industrial designs—becomes an indispensable step for any creator aspiring to expand digitally without losing control over their identity.

In this sense, the internally developed intellectual property culture finds its greatest potential when projected outward. Digitization, sustainability, and insertion into global markets are not isolated challenges, but rather the natural consequence of an ecosystem that understands and values the protection of its creations. Thus, intellectual property not only safeguards Costa Rica's cultural and business identity, but also gives its brands an ethical and sustainable narrative capable of competing strongly on the international stage.

Final Tips: IP as a Creative Growth Tool

One of the simplest, yet most powerful, pieces of advice I can offer to any Costa Rican designer or entrepreneur is this: register early. Intellectual property rights—particularly trademarks and designs—typically operate on a “first-to-file” basis. This means that even if you were the first to invent or create something, you may lose your rights to someone who files before you. Many small brands delay registration until they’ve gained traction, but by then, it might be too late. A competitor, a distributor, or even an opportunistic third party can register your name or design first, leaving you in the uncomfortable position of having to fight for what was once yours.

Next, think about your brand elements as assets. That includes your name, your logo, your color palette, your packaging design, your tagline—even the shape of your product. Choose these elements carefully, not only for their appeal but also for their distinctiveness. Generic or descriptive names like “Pura Vida Surf” or “Costa Rica Eco Fashion” may sound appropriate, but they’re often difficult to register and enforce. Strong IP begins with a strong identity. And while your initial focus may be on the Costa Rican market, consider how your brand could travel. Is your name legally available in the United States? Could your design be protected in the EU or Latin America? Start local, but think global.

Another essential point: don’t treat your IP lawyer as just a form-filler. Choose someone who takes the time to understand the heart of your brand. Creativity is not just about legal categories—it’s about expression, culture, and emotional connection. Your lawyer should not only help you navigate registration processes but also guide you in protecting the essence of your creative work. Whether you're a minimalist designer, a traditional craftsperson, or a streetwear provocateur, your legal strategy should reflect your brand’s voice.

Intellectual property, when used wisely, is not an obstacle to creativity—it’s a platform for growth. It gives you control over your narrative, allows you to license or collaborate on your own terms, and sends a message to investors and consumers that your brand is built to last. It also acts as a deterrent to would-be copycats. Knowing that your designs are protected—locally and internationally—allows you to create with confidence.

Don’t underestimate the symbolic power of an IP portfolio. It communicates professionalism, seriousness, and future thinking. For entrepreneurs seeking funding, it can tip the scales with investors who want to see more than just a great idea—they want to see that you’ve taken steps to secure that idea. For creatives looking to partner with international brands or retailers, registered IP builds trust and clarity from the start.

Ultimately, IP isn’t just about stopping infringement—it’s about starting opportunities. It’s the legal scaffold that lets your creative vision reach higher, grow stronger, and go further. In Costa Rica, we are rich in culture, originality, and passion. With the right tools, we can be just as strong in protection—and that, too, is part of what it means to be a truly independent creator.

SEBASTIAN JIMENEZ

Attorney at Law