Operational support to intellectual property crime cases

Eurojust handled a similar number of intellectual property crime (IPC) cases in 2022 compared to 2021.

The Agency organised two coordination meetings offering its legal and logistical support to national authorities involved in IPC investigations.

One IPC case opened at the Agency in 2022 concerned the illegal streaming of sports events. Following the reception of data from UEFA and FIFA, the US Liaison Prosecutor at Eurojust organised a coordination meeting between the national authorities of the involved countries in December 2022. Moving forward, the plan is to pass on the data to Bulgaria, Romania and Ukraine and to take coordinated investigative actions against the organised criminal group behind these criminal acts.

Responding to the challenge through the IP Crime Project

In today's technology-driven society, the growing scale and severity of intellectual property (IP) violations, particularly in the form of counterfeiting and copyright violations, poses increasing risks to the public. It is therefore necessary for criminal law to ensure strict IP protection and enforcement. IP crimes cause significant damage to the economy, and in some cases, can endanger consumer health and safety. This crime type is especially attractive to criminals due to its high profit margins and low level of penalties applied. Criminals engaging in this crime often engage in other forms of crime as facilitators for IP crime (e.g. document fraud and money laundering) or use the proceeds gained to finance other serious crimes, including terrorism.

The significant economic, social and health impacts of IP crimes require a robust, effective and coordinated response from both the international community and national authorities.

To contribute to national and EU efforts in this area, Eurojust established the IP Crime Project, financed by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) through a Service Level Agreement. The project aims to raise the profile of IP crime and contribute to a strengthened judicial response against IP infringements in the EU. To that end, the project focuses on building, promoting and exchanging knowledge, tools and expertise, and on promoting cooperation between judicial authorities across EU jurisdictions.

In 2022, the IP Crime project organised two key events and published a series of materials designed to raise awareness and promote knowledge on a wide range of IP crime issues.

Annual workshop of the European Intellectual Property Prosecutors Network

In September 2022, over 70 prosecutors from the European Union and neighbouring countries dealing with IP crime investigations and prosecutions participated in the annual workshop of the European Intellectual Property Prosecutors Network, organised by Eurojust and EUIPO.

The 2022 edition focused on collaborating with private sector intermediaries. Participants also discussed other important topics including international judicial cooperation, IP crime investigations and prosecutions in practice, public-private sector cooperation and the perspective of rights holders.

While acknowledging the importance of combating IP crimes, many prosecutors stated that, in several EU jurisdictions, the violation of certain IP rights is not even considered a criminal offence (such as plant variety, violations of geographical indications of origin and trade secrets). It is for this reason that cross-border cooperation facilitated by Eurojust is so important, as it helps to promote understanding of IP systems across the European Union and identify the best prosecutorial strategy to get justice done in these cases.

Workshop on counterfeit car parts

The increasing use of fake car parts poses a growing security risk for road users, leading to deadly accidents and serious bodily harm. Furthermore, the use of fake parts is a serious infringement of the copyrights of the original manufacturers.

To raise visibility and exchange knowledge in this area, Eurojust organised a practical workshop on counterfeit car parts in November 2022. The workshop brought together members of national police forces and judicial authorities, industry representatives and EU agencies. The event provided participants with an opportunity to discuss key issues faced in the investigation and prosecution of cases involving spare car parts, while learning about current national responses to tackling this crime.

One way to prosecute this crime more effectively is to use cumulative charging – adding charges such as manslaughter or causing bodily harm to counterfeiting cases, or fraud to copyright infringements to raise the level of sentencing. This approach allows prosecutors to tackle multiple criminal offences, ensuring perpetrators are sentenced for the entirety of their criminal activity, rather than just the most prevailing crime. This approach results in higher penalties, while also allowing the use of special investigative methods and tactics reserved for crimes that are considered more serious by legislators.

During the workshop, participants agreed to conduct further analysis of the criminal activities concerning fake parts and to map the investigative process, outlining all elements necessary to file successful indictments. This includes increasing cooperation between public authorities and the industry.

IPC publications released in 2022

Throughout 2022, the IP Crime Project released a number of publications that address key issues and provide legislative updates to help strengthen practitioners’ knowledge of the legal aspects of IP crimes. The 2022 publications cover a wide range of topics, and provide legal analysis and practical knowledge that legal practitioners can apply to their IP investigations and prosecutions.

The national case-law analysis and IP Crime Project Annual Report provide case-law summaries, highlighting examples of the most common issues dealt with by national courts in the IPC area. They identify common practices and assist practitioners in applying relevant legal provisions during IPC prosecutions.

During 2022, the IP Crime Project also published short and user-friendly awareness-raising materials to present the latest policy developments in areas that directly affect IP. One such factsheet was dedicated to the Digital Services Act that entered into effect in November 2022. This landmark legislation aims to impose due diligence requirements on online service providers (OSPs), and establishes a number of obligations aimed at removing illegal copyright-infringing content.

A flyer was published with tips for users on how to identify illegal Internet Protocol television services, which have become a major problem, causing significant damage to rights holders and users through loss of personal data and malware.

A second flyer explaining how to successfully submit a copyright infringement notice was also published in December 2022. Raising awareness of this is important as the copyright infringement notice is one of the most effective tools for drawing attention to a potential violation, removing illegal content, and informing law enforcement agencies about a potential criminal offence.

Finally, the collection of national legislation, judicial libraries, and contact information for national institutions also published during 2022 offers practitioners and legal experts easy access to a variety of legal resources.