An Intellectual Property Dispute
(snapshot of life in Costa Rica)

- Randy* could get a touch paranoid when he drank. Maybe this was the effect of his year spent living in San Jose, the rough-edged capital. One night at this bar, he brought me in to translate a conversation with the bartender that had exceeded both of their respective languages. The discussion concerned a Nicolas Cage DVD Randy was trying to sell. The bartender, its prospective buyer, had asked to take the disc home, allegedly to “inspect the quality.”

“He was gone over an hour,” Randy complained over shots of guaro, Bon Jovi’s “Living on a Prayer” wailing in the background. “I bet he copied it. I watched that movie 18 times. The quality is just fine.”

The bartender returned to return the disk and face Randy’s ire. After much heated discourse, I finally eked out a translation of his motivation. The DVD itself hadn’t been lacking in quality, merely the movie. Lame script, poor acting.

(* a "nom-de-blog" for privacy purposes)

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