The Nordic copyright and trademark laws are multi-faceted and complex, which complicates the interpretation of the related crime provisions. Finally, the thesis proposes a rethinking of the scope of criminalization of both copyright and trademark infringement, as well as a move towards more accurate and rigorous criminal law. I would also like to thank Professor Mezei for agreeing to be my opponent in the public examination of the thesis, his efforts are greatly appreciated.
Background to the research
There is a strong tradition of international harmonization in the field of IPR, mainly concerned with private law remedies for IPR. The Nordic countries have appointed an Auktorrättskommittén (hereinafter referred to as the 'Nordic Copyright Commission') to draft corresponding copyright laws in all countries.7 The Nordic Copyright Commission has drafted an explanatory bill8 which today still has interpretative value with regard to the application of copyright laws and, for example, with regard to the copyrighted work threshold, the reasoning often extends to this document.9 Similar Nordic cooperation has taken place in the field of. This research is at the intersection of criminal law, the most strictly regulated area of public law, which may only be used to pursue the public interest and ensure a peaceful society,12 and intellectual property law, a branch law to the extreme end of the world. civil law regime, in which the rights of a private person are emphasized and putting one's own interest before someone else's is common practice.13 The most recent investigation into criminal law enforcement of copyright in Finland dates back to 2005.14 Nordic provisions on copyright and trademark crime have change.
Research question and organization of the dissertation
Criticism of these goals has often focused on the empirical untestability of the effects of the IPR system. How should the existing system of criminal law cope with the challenges brought by the abstractness of the objects of protection, the growth of technical developments and the advent of digitization. The dissertation recognizes potential difficulties in this area regarding the fulfillment of the causes of criminal liability, such as intent and negligence (or mens rea element as discussed below), and some procedural guarantees for the protection of the legitimate rights of the defendant, such as sh. the presumption of innocence and the principle of bis in idem.
Research methodology
However, in the field of criminal law, the strongly national nature of the field and some fairly strict doctrines regarding the orientation of responsibility and principles. It is useful to use some elements of the functional method to demonstrate this similarity. Second, the research interest in knowledge operates on a normative level and the research is interested in the doctrinal analysis of the chosen.
Structure of the dissertation
The first article focuses on providing answers to the first research question of the dissertation. The second article analyzes Nordic copyright and trademark criminal provisions from the perspective of the legality principle. The article addresses both the research questions posed in the thesis and is closely linked to Chapter 4 of the synthesis.
Defining intellectual property and art
In the Nordic countries, the requirements of the TRIPS Agreement are met in the criminal provisions on copyright and trademarks. Regarding the violation of moral rights, the integrity of the author must be distinguished from the integrity of the work. Violation of moral rights arises when the integrity of the work is violated and harm is caused to the author.
The right to integrity includes the protection of the author's reputation, literary or artistic dignity or. However, the content of the concept of crime in the countries is functionally equivalent and therefore comparable. This is related to the prohibition of vagueness and the need for an accurate description of the object to be protected.
In the field of defamation, the infringement creates a purely negative experience and the sole purpose of the act is to. The article shows shortcomings in the protection of the legitimate rights of the defendant in relation to the purposes intended by the copyright. Barenboim, Peter D.: The Legal Doctrine of the Rule of Law and the Legal State (Rechtsstaat), Springer 2014, pp.
The use of the sign must have taken place in trade and in relation to goods or services. They do not cover the consequences for the end user of the counterfeit product. The author provides links to the unofficial translation of the law in question, if such a translation exists.
The assessments of grading are based on the action descriptions in the intentional fraud provisions. This widens the scope of the Finnish fraud provision compared to the other countries.
The Nordic criminal policy guiding the criminalization of IPR
The legislative foundation and structure of Nordic copyright
It also illustrates the relevant links between these instruments from the perspective of the research question of the thesis. The central legal basis of the operational systems for enforcement of intellectual property rights in Northern Europe itself derives from the TRIPS Agreement117 and the Directive. These were reflected at the beginning of the century in the proposal for the EU IPRED2 Directive and the draft Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA).
Second, concerns have been raised about abuse of the existing criminal justice enforcement system. These provisions are somewhat complex, but the multi-layered and complex substantive content of copyright and trademark law also complicates matters. In order to deepen the relevant issues in connection with the research, I have chosen to use moral rights to copyright as an illustrative cross-cutting example.
Violations of the author's integrity unrelated to the work are treated as libel. First, the wording of the provisions on the right to integrity in national law and languages differ from those in the Berne Convention. Some Scandinavian countries have made the required changes to their national legislation and the rest will most likely follow in the near future.
Consideration of the form of the work and the importance of the form in relation to the art of evidence should be the central elements in the assessment.
Outlining the rule of law
They must also accept legal provisions of the content of their rights and duties, especially when their The starting point is that the law is the same for everyone (the principle of equality) and everyone will have access to the protection of the law. Application of the principle of equality requires that similar cases be treated alike, and different cases be treated differently.
As regards EU law, in the form of Directives and Regulations on copyright and trade marks, the principle requires that the terms of an EU law provision which has no precise reference to the law of the Member States in determining its meaning and scope must normally is given. an independent and uniform interpretation throughout the EU. This interpretation must take into account the context of the provision and the purpose of the relevant legislation.156. With regard to criminal law, application of the equality principle requires that cases are substantially similar in their essential parts, because identical (criminal) cases do not exist.
Even though lay people's expectations and conceptions of what the rule of law is or should be are more concrete than those of scholars, and generally differ from those of scholars, the formal description of the content of the rule of law by lay people constitutes a basis for expectations. The rule of law guarantees the protection of the legitimate interests of all members of society, including those suspected of violating moral rights. If the law does not precisely define the boundaries of the undesirable conduct, its application becomes unpredictable and will ultimately fail to protect the legitimate interests of the defendant.164.
See Tammenlehto 2022 for a further discussion of issues surrounding the protection of the suspect's legitimate interests in the field of copyright.
The Principle of Legality Depicting the Rule of Law in the
The research questions addressed in the article are as follows: (1) How current Nordic copyright and trademark infringements meet. requirements of the principle of legality. The article identifies four elements of the principle of legality and analyzes their fulfillment through three examples of elements related to copyright and trademark. It is argued that it is questionable whether the descriptions of actions are actually written down in legislation.
The article proposes a reform of the relevant criminal law provisions so that they more precisely define what is criminalised. With regard to the example of moral rights, the first problem in criminalizing the violation of moral rights arises with regard to the principle of legality. 178 Traditionally, the general definition of crime in the Nordic countries is that it is an act that fulfills the essential elements of a crime, is illegal and indicates the guilt of the perpetrator.
In the utilitarian view, the use of punishment is justified by the promotion of the overall well-being of society in the future. 199 This research is based on the assumption that the perpetrator is an average person and that mental handicaps that may influence the assessment of the mens rea element are left out of the presentation. If a negligent act is criminalized, both intentional and unintentional negligence can fulfill the essential elements of the crime.
Assessing the perpetrator's accuracy in a specific situation is essential to determine whether the perpetrator has committed a criminal offense or has met the requirements of due diligence.
Justified object of protection as a prerequisite for the use of
The consistency of the criminal justice system calls into question the need to criminalize pure moral rights in the absence of any. Biadgleng, Ermias Tekeste (2008): The Development and Balance of the TRIPS Agreement and the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights. The deficiencies in content and quality create a consequent risk to the health and safety of consumers.
For the requirement of misleading the victim, the sale of counterfeit goods meets the essential elements of the fraud provisions. This chapter analyzes and compares the Nordic fraud provisions from the point of view of the position of the consumer in the online sale of counterfeit goods. It should be noted that the right holder can continue to use the trademark himself.
Direct food fraud risk means that there is an imminent risk to the health of the consumer. First, the offender must either actively deceive the victim or take advantage of the victim's mistake. The criminalized behavior can be divided into three levels based on the seriousness and harmfulness of the act.
Therefore, taking advantage of the victim's mistake does not fulfill the essential elements of the crime. In Norway, both an active mistake and a more passive exploitation of the victim's mistake are punished. Overall, it seems safe to say that the applicability of the Nordic fraud provisions in case studies is at least questionable.
