Los 33: How the Chilean miners became a brand

Illanes was speaking at the 18 ^th annual Congress of the Inter-American Association of Intellectual Property (ASIPI), which was held in Punta del Este, Uruguay last week.

“It’s not easy to start talking about the law after a speech like that,” said Guillermo Carey of Carey y Cia, who is representing the 33 miners who were trapped 700 meters underground for 69 days in 2010. Illanes was the third miner rescued via specially made steel rescue capsules.

The ASIPI panel included Illanes, Carey, Tom McGuire of William Morris Endeavor Entertainment and Ricardo Fischer of Arent Fox.

Carey explained the difficulties of getting 33 miners to agree on terms to keep their story confidential until the release of their upcoming Hollywood film, which is being negotiated by McGuire, and book publication, which is being written by journalist Hector Tobar .

Chilean firm Carey was tasked with convincing the men to protect their experience via IP and contract law, which was not easy in the face of hundreds of tempting offers from the press.

“Having a dialogue with 33 people about anything is difficult,” said Carey. The firm eventually did manage to get all of the men to sign an agreement to keep their stories confidential, but it took months of negotiation and explanation.

“We had to take a notary public with us to each man’s house,” said Carey. “There were always friends of the family who were lawyers who would refuse our proposals.”

Once the men all came on board, a code of conduct had to be drafted. While the miners have individual rights to make public appearances and accept sponsorships, they cannot divulge the details of their story before the release of the book, which is scheduled to be published by early next year. The movie script is nearly 100% finished and the film is now in casting.

Despite Carey’s success in obtaining the 33 signatures, there is no law governing life story rights in Chile, so the agreement had to include penalties for selling their individual stories to other parties.

To help streamline the process, leaders such as Illanes emerged, and today, the miners have a board of directors who regularly make decisions for the group. Carey said the firm has had to battle other IP challenges as well, such as the release of a recent porn film titled La Mina Se Comio los 33 (the mine that swallowed the 33).

The ASIPI Congress this year also featured an opening keynote about team-building by Carlos Paez, one of the survivors of the 1972 plane crash in the Andes mountains; panels on work-life balance, commercialisation of digital content and restoration of patent rights; and a closing session transferring the ASIPI presidency from Fernando Triana of Triana Uribe & Michelsen to Juan Vanrell of Bacot & Bacot (right).