Features of criminal characteristics of crimes in the sphere of intellectual property

Abstract

The article is devoted to the peculiarities of the forensic characteristics of crimes in the field of intellectual property. It is noted that the Constitution of our country guarantees every citizen the right to the results of his intellectual and creative activity; no one can use or distribute them without his consent, with exceptions established by law. However, criminals violate this right and commit corresponding criminal offenses, the responsibility for which is provided for by Articles 176, 177, 203-1, 229 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. At the same time, the formulation of the forensic characteristics of any criminal offense is an important stage of its proof, as it allows not only to determine the circumstances that need to be established, but also to draw up a further investigation plan and tactics for conducting investigative (search) actions.
 It was concluded that the forensic characteristics of criminal offenses in the field of intellectual property include: the method of committing the crime, the object of the criminal offense, the identity of the criminal and typical traces of the crime.
 The criminal’s choice of the subject of the criminal offense is determined, first of all, by the level of his education, the presence of certain professional skills and knowledge necessary for the implementation of the plan, and the technical side of the issue. All this is especially true for crimes related to copyright infringement in the field of distribution of audio and video products and computer information. Because a person who does not have certain special skills and education is not able to develop a crime plan and implement it. In addition, the criminal must first have access to the object of criminal trespass, and therefore know the technical features of its carrier and the organization of the work of the relevant enterprises, corporations, companies, firms and the like, in whose custody a certain desired work is located.
 It has been established that the typical traces of these crimes are characterized by certain features in the process of trace creation, namely: their commission is mostly disguised as ordinary economic transactions; the tools used to commit them are significantly different from those used to commit other crimes; traces usually remain in various accounting, management or technological documents; the very objects of the criminal offense can be used within the framework of legitimate economic transactions.