IP Infringement is Treated as Criminal Offense

IP Infringement is Treated as Criminal Offense in Amended Albanian Criminal Code

The amendments to the Albanian Criminal Code entered into force on April 11, 2012. Before the amendments, the Criminal Code did not contain any provisions concerning intellectual property protection. New provisions dealing with fines and penalties applicable in case of IP rights infringement have been added.

Namely, in case of producing, using, releasing, distributing, trading, importing or exporting:

• A product or a process protected by a patent
• A product protected by an industrial design
• Goods and/or services protected by a mark
• A product that derives from its place of origin
• Integrated circuit topography product

deliberately and without the consent of the IP rights holder constitutes a criminal offense, for which the law prescribes a fine or a penalty of up to one year in prison.

If the infringement is done in collaboration with another party and more than once, the law prescribes a fine or a penalty of up to two years in prison.