The law in relation to Intellectual Property (IP) rights infringement
Legislation covers both civil infringement - against patents, trade marks, designs and copyright - and criminal offences in the case of trade marks and copyright.
A full guide to offences that may be committed by individuals who produce, distribute or sell counterfeit and pirated goods is available.
Copyright
The
Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988 
(1.53Mb) (as amended) lays out in sections 16 - 27 how a person
can infringe copyright by:
- copying the work in any way
- issuing copies of the work to the public
- renting or lending copies of the work to the public
- performing, showing or playing the work in public
- broadcasting the work or other communication to the public by electronic transmission
- making an adaptation of the work.
Copyright is infringed when any of the above
acts are done without permission, whether directly or indirectly and whether the whole or a substantial
part of a work is used. However, some minor uses may fall within the scope of exceptions to copyright. The acts permitted in relation to copyright works 
are laid out in sections 28 -
76.
Deliberate infringement of copyright (piracy) on a commercial scale may be a criminal offence. There is specific legislation that outlines where an offence can occur.
Under
the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988 (1.53Mb) a person may be committing a criminal offence if they carry out the
following
without the permission of the copyright owner:
- Making unauthorised copies of works e.g. burning films onto DVD-Rs for the purpose of sale or distribution
- Distributing, selling or hiring out unauthorised copies of DVDs or other works
- On a larger scale, distributing unauthorised copies as a commercial enterprise e.g. uploading films and making them widely available in the internet, using a company's computer system
- Whilst not dealing commercially, distributing unauthorised copies on such a scale as to have an impact on the copyright owner's business
- Possessing unauthorised copies with a view to distributing, selling or hiring these to other people.
The penalties for copyright theft offences vary depending on the nature of the offence and the court in which it is tried. For example, in a magistrates' court the penalty for selling pirate DVDs is a maximum fine of £50,000 and/or six months' imprisonment, but if the case is heard in the Crown Court the penalty might be an unlimited fine and/or up to 10 years' imprisonment.
Trade marks
The
Trade Marks Act 1994 (358Kb) outlines between sections 9 - 12 how a person can infringe
a registered trade mark where:
- in the course of trade a sign which is identical with the trade mark in relation to goods or services which are identical with those for which it is registered.
- he uses in the course of trade
a sign where because:
- the sign is identical with the trade mark and is used in relation to goods or services similar to those for
which the trade mark is registered, or
- the sign is similar to the trade mark and is used in relation to goods or services identical with or similar to
those for which the trade mark is registered,
there exists a likelihood of confusion on the part of the public, which includes the likelihood of association with the trade mark.
Infringement
proceedings are detailed in Trade Marks Act 1994 (358Kb) between sections 14 - 21.
The
Trade Marks Act 1994 (358Kb) section 92 has created a number of criminal offences as regards
unauthorised
use of a trade mark in relation to goods if any of the following are carried out without the permission
of the
trade mark owner:
- applies to goods or their packaging a sign identical to, or likely to be mistaken for, a registered trade mark, or
- sells or lets for hire, offers or exposes for sale or hire or distributes goods which bear, or the packaging of which bears, such a sign, or
- has in his possession, custody or control in the course of a business any such goods with a view to the doing of anything, by himself or another, which would be an offence under the previous bullet.
The penalties for trade mark offences vary depending on the court in which the case is tried. For cases brought in the magistrates' court the maximum penalty is a fine of £5,000 and/or six months' imprisonment. For cases brought in the Crown Court the maximum penalty is an unlimited fine and/or up to 10 years' imprisonment.
Designs
The Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988 (1.53Mb) details between sections 226 - 228 how a person can infringe a design
through reproducing the registered design or unregistered design for commercial purposes,
- by making articles to that design, or
- by making a design document recording the design for the purpose of enabling such articles to be made.
- Reproduction of a design by making articles to the design means copying the design so as to produce articles exactly or substantially to that design, and references in this Part to making articles to a design shall be construed accordingly.
- Design right is infringed by a person who without the licence of the design right owner does, or authorises another to do, anything which by virtue of this section is the exclusive right of the design right owner.
Remedies
for infringement are detailed in the Act between sections 229 - 235.
Patents
The
Patents Act 1977 (626Kb) (as amended) outlines in sections 60 - 71 how a person can infringe
a patent, while the patent is in force, he does any of the following things in the United Kingdom in
relation to the invention without the consent of the proprietor of the patent:
- where the invention is a product he makes, disposes of, offers to dispose of, uses or imports the product or keeps it whether for disposal or otherwise;
- where the invention is a process, he uses the process or he offers it for use in the United Kingdom when he knows, or it is obvious to a reasonable person in the circumstances, that its use there without the consent of the proprietor would be an infringement of the patent;
- where the invention is a process, he disposes of, offers to dispose of, uses or imports any product obtained directly by means of that process or keeps any such product whether for disposal or otherwise.