Who commits the infringement of industrial property rights?
Infringement of industrial property rights is committed by anyone who violates another's right arising from industrial property protection by imitating or adopting the subject of the protection, or by placing goods created by these means on the market or acquiring or holding them for such purpose, and thereby causes financial loss to the proprietor.
A perfect and perhaps most common example of this is when someone uses another famous brand's name, logo, color combinations or figures with minimal changes, or adopts them entirely, without having received permission from the proprietor.
What is industrial property protection?
This category includes trademarks, patents, utility model protections, plant variety protections, geographical indication protections and design protections.
What penalty can the perpetrator expect?
For the infringement of industrial property rights, in the mildest case, the perpetrator is punishable by imprisonment of up to two years, while in the most severe case, they can be punished by imprisonment of five to ten years, if their act causes particularly significant pecuniary disadvantage to the proprietor.
What is pecuniary disadvantage?
According to the definition in the Criminal Code, financial loss is the damage caused to property and the loss of lost profits. In the case of infringement of industrial property rights, the pecuniary damage mostly manifests as lost royalties.
Sticking with the above example, if someone places products on the market by copying a famous brand's product, the extent of the pecuniary disadvantage can be calculated by examining the amount of royalties the victim lost because their industrial property protection was used without authorization. Given that this circumstance is based on rather complicated and often debatable calculations, the extent of the pecuniary disadvantage is usually determined by experts during criminal proceedings.
Who can you turn to if your industrial property protection is infringed?
In the case of the crime of infringement of industrial property rights, the National Tax and Customs Administration (NAV) competent according to the place of commission is authorized to act as the investigating authority. Therefore, to avoid loss of time, it is advisable to turn to them to file a criminal complaint.
What is worth paying attention to when filing a complaint?
Given that a condition for the crime to be established is the occurrence of pecuniary disadvantage, it is advisable to substantiate the existence of this circumstance with documents, for example, by presenting contracts containing the royalty amount. It is also worth submitting a civil claim for the amount of the pecuniary disadvantage incurred, because if the commission of the crime is proven, the court can also oblige the perpetrator to compensate for the pecuniary disadvantage that occurred.
If you are a victim of infringement of industrial property rights, or if you are suspected or accused of infringing industrial property rights, contact our office with confidence and make use of our legal representation and defense!
