Criminal measures aimed at ensuring the enforcement of intellectual property rights

Background

The infringement of intellectual property rights, such as counterfeiting and piracy is a growing phenomenon and one of an increasingly international nature and which has a serious economic effect. The Commission proposed the directive on criminal measures aimed at ensuring the enforcement of intellectual property rights to offer additional provisions to strengthen and improve the fight against systematic infringement of intellectual property rights.

For the first time Member states could be forced to adapt their criminal laws to internal-market objectives. The Legal Affairs Committee has backed criminal measures - including imprisonment - aimed at enforcing a wide range of intellectual property rights (IPR).

Main points adopted in committee

A. Penalties

In cases of serious crimes committed by a criminal organisation, the maximum penalty must be at least €300 000 and/or four years' imprisonment. The same applies where the offences carry a health or safety risk.

For less serious infringements, the maximum penalties should include criminal and civil fines of at least €100 000.

In some cases, remedies can include the seizure and destruction of counterfeited goods.

The report thus aims to ensure that national judicial authorities will always be able to impose sufficiently serious penalties by setting out minimum levels for the upper limits on punishments imposed by national law.

B. Provisions on investigations

Member States are asked to ensure that the possibility of initiating investigations is not dependent on a formal accusation, at least when acts were committed in the territory of the Member State.

Joint investigation teams: Moreover, EU countries, if the directive is adopted, would have to allow holders of violated intellectual property rights to assist investigations undertaken by joint investigation teams.

C. Limit the scope to the following intellectual property rights:

- Copyright and related rights;

- sui generis rights of a database maker;

- rights of the creator of a topography of a semi-conductor product;

- trademark rights;

- design rights;

- geographical indications, and;

- trade names.

JURI excluded patent rights from the scope of the Directive.

D. Cover only "intentional infringements on a commercial scale", where "commercial scale" is defined as "any infringement committed to obtain a commercial advantage", and "intentional" as "deliberate and conscious".

Criminal sanctions should only apply to those infringements deliberately carried out to obtain a commercial advantage. Piracy committed by private users for personal, non-profit purposes are therefore also excluded.

Sharon's involvement

Documents