In Costa Rica, a court decided to cancel the patent for the invention of the "canopy" that since 1998 was held in the name of a person, who charged the tourism companies that carried out the activity.
On April 24, the Administrative Registry Court decided to cancel the canopy patent that had been granted to the Canadian Darren Hreniuk, which he received in October 1998 from the Industrial Property Registry.
After a year of negotiations, the government of Nicaragua decided to drop its lawsuit against the Spanish consortium.
The government had sued the hotel group Barceló in an international court for noncompliance of a contract to purchase a resort on the Pacific coast.
Prensa.com interviewed the prosecutor Hernán Estrada: “Nicaragua will form a partnership with the Spanish group as the majority partner in the tourist complex Montelimar Resort & Casino.”
Executives from the Grupo Barceló repeated this Thursday that they owe nothing to the State of Nicaragua and refused to make further comments on the lawsuit presented by the government.
The company's legal reprentative, Tomás Delaney, told reporters that they have reviewed the lawsuit sent to the Washington-based International Center for Settlement of Differences Relative to Investments.
The state of Nicaragua is suing Grupo Barceló for 30 million dollars, in a process that will go for arbitration before the International Center for Settling Differences Relative to Investments.
Although Barceló threatened to take the case to the international settlement center weeks ago, in the end it was the State of Nicaragua that took the initiative on arbitration.
The Spanish consortium Barceló, owner of Hotel Montelimar in Managua, wants to resolve its differences with the government through international arbitration.
The government, through its Justice Department, insists that Barceló owes three million dollars for commitments made in its privatization contract.
Representatives of the Spanish company were to meet this afternoon with officials from the Superior Board of Private Enterprise and the National Tourism Chamber. They will officially state their case for seeking international arbitration at that meeting.
Spain's ambassador to Nicaragua, Antonio Pérez Hernández, voiced concern over the government's decision to impose a preventive embargo on the Spanish-owned hotel Barceló Playa Montelimar Resort & Casino.
The ambassador added, however, that he felt sure Barceló could prove to the authorities that it had done nothing wrong.
Nicaragua's Attorney-General's department advised that it has started a legal process to bring about the return of the Montelimar tourist complex, due to alleged non-fulfillment of the contract.
Attorney-General Hernán Estrada recently delivered the lawsuit to the third civil court of Managua. AFP confirmed that one of its sources says the precise date was not made public due to a gag order imposed by the hotel last May relatng to a debt linked to the contract.