Abstract
Intellectual property legal protection is undoubtedly one of the most important factors and conditions of effective economic, social and cultural development in modern society. According to researchers, absolute majority of countries in the world have set criminal liability for certain crimes against intellectual property rights, including all of the European Union (hereinafter – EU) countries. One of those crimes is misappropriation of authorship. Yet the criminal laws of EU countries criminalise misappropriation of authorship very differently - some protect not only author rights but also related rights, the conditions for criminal liability in the general corpus delicti are of a very different scope as well as the punishments for those crimes differ significantly. This analysis will present the scope of criminal liability in all the EU countries, including the reasons why, as well as will try to find the answer whether ways of coping with these difficulties exist.
Highlights
Intellectual property legal protection is undoubtedly one of the most important factors and conditions of effective economic, social and cultural development in modern society, especially considering the ever growing need for international exploitation of intellectual assets (Maskus, 1998)
If we look at the conditions for criminal liability to arise, provided in general corpus delicti of misappropriation of authorship, we see a wide range of possibilities: in more than half of EU countries just the act of misappropriation of authorship is considered to be enough to qualify it as a crime
If a fine is imposed for misappropriation of authorship by a court of the issuing State, other States will not have to verify the double criminality of the act and will recognise and enforce the decision in accordance with the Framework Decision’s rules and their exceptions
Summary
Intellectual property legal protection is undoubtedly one of the most important factors and conditions of effective economic, social and cultural development in modern society, especially considering the ever growing need for international exploitation of intellectual assets (Maskus, 1998). Absolute majority of countries in the world have set criminal liability for certain crimes against intellectual property rights (Kiškis and Šulija, 2003), including European Union (hereinafter – EU) countries One of those crimes is misappropriation of authorship – a violation of one of author’s moral rights. EU countries criminalise misappropriation of authorship very differently, regarding the object of protection, the scope of protected rights, the conditions for criminal liability in the general and qualified corpus delicti as well as punishments for those crimes This analysis will present an overview of international and EU criminal legal regulation, as well as peculiarities of national EU Member States’ norms, the scope of criminal liability for misappropriation of authorship in all the EU countries, regarding the qualifying features and size of two punishments: fine and imprisonment. The results are presented graphically in charts and a table, hoping to fill in some of the gaps of criminal legal analysis of copyright law
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