Intellectual property crime case-law of national courts (3rd edition) : January 2024

This document, which is updated on an annual basis, provides an overview of the case-law of national courts with regard to the application of national legislations regulating intellectual property crime (IPC). An IPC is an infringement of intellectual property (IP) rights, such as counterfeiting commodities or pirating content. Counterfeiting involves the manufacturing, sale or distribution of goods without the IP right owner's authorisation. The criminal offence of counterfeiting goods infringes intellectual property rights such as trademarks, designs, patents or geographical indications. Piracy, on the other hand, concerns the unauthorised use and exploitation of a copyright-protected work or copies thereof without the authorisation of the right holder. The case-law overview contains summaries of national judgments, categorised in accordance with the main legal issues they address. Each summary includes a set of keywords reflecting the main issues of the case and references to the relevant legal provisions. Each summary also includes a list of the applicable legislation. The full text of each article in the original language, along with its English translation, can be accessed by clicking on the hyperlink provided. This compilation of national judgment summaries aims to highlight the most common issues dealt with by national courts in the area of IPC. In so doing, it helps to identify common practices and assist practitioners in applying relevant legal provisions during IPC investigations and prosecutions and making optimal use of existing resources and best practices stemming from existing IPC cases. The summaries of the provided judgments are not exhaustive. They should be used only as a reference and a supplementary tool for practitioners. Links to the full texts of the judgments are provided in the summaries and are also annexed to this document. This document is the third version of the analysis of case-law of national courts prepared within the framework of the IPC Project. The IPC Project was launched in 2021 as a coordinated effort between the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation (Eurojust) to enhance cooperation and deliver an efficient and coherent response to intellectual property crimes at the EU level. The project aims to provide comparative analyses of national jurisdictions, promote uniform practices and raise awareness of IPC across the EU.