Criminal Liability for the Infringement of IP Rights: Ukraine and the European Court of Human Rights Case Law

Abstract

Ukraine’s national legislation and the European Court of Human Rights’s case-law outline Сopyright protection. Many cases exist where the public significance and damage from copyright infringement entails holding the guilty person criminally responsible for the transgression. Given copyright infringement cases do not reflect a predominant concern over other crimes, a structured criminal prosecution mechanism does not exist. Thus, the European Court of Human Rights’ legal positions and instructions intend to eliminate gaps legally regulating criminal liability for copyright infringement. Hence, the legal regulation, its gaps and ECHR case law impacts on Ukrainian practice were analysed. This structure enabled proposing steps for improving legally regulating criminal liability for copyright infringement in Ukraine.

Keywords

• author’s rights protection
• criminal proceedings
• ecthr case law