Ch Geiger (ed), Criminal Enforcement of Intellectual Property

• Author: Rita Matulionyte
• Position: Dr. iur., LL.M., Deputy Director at Law Institute of Lithuania
• Pages: 63-65

2013

63

4

Book Reviews

1

Criminal enforcement of IP rights has been a hot

topic on both the European and international level

for the last several years. Despite the failure of

the Proposed EU Directive on Criminal Measures

(2005/0127/COD) and the rejection by the European

Parliament of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade

Agreement (ACTA) that contained provisions on

criminal enforcement (among others), the discussion

has not stopped. Europeans are awaiting with



the European Commission, and the international

IP society is following the negotiations of the

   

the research handbook ‘Criminal Enforcement of

Intellectual Property’, edited by Christophe Geiger, is

a timely academic venue to cultivate the ground for



2

The book contains contributions by the most



(Germany, France, UK, Finland) and abroad (US,

China, Argentina). The book is arranged in three parts

addressing societal issues underlying IP enforcement

(I), the search for right remedies for IP enforcement

(II) and a selection of the most problematic issues

(III). Part II is the richest, ranging from historical and

economic perspectives to criminal IP enforcement

to international, regional and national experiences



   

an interdisciplinary approach, the book provides a

broad picture of the discussion surrounding criminal

enforcement in IP. Readers could be disappointed

that some of the most recent developments – such

as the rejection of ACTA in the European Parliament,

    

Partnership agreement or the fresh experience in

the implementation of the controversial French

HADOPI law – are not covered by the book (the

manuscript was probably submitted to the publisher

before these events). Also, keeping in mind the

prospective initiative by the European Commission

on criminal measures, readers might have expected

some more concrete suggestions on how Europe has

to move forward on this issue. Overall, however, the

contributions are of high academic value and are

likely to be instructive and enlightening for both



3

Each contribution deserves a short notice. The



strict protection of IP does not necessarily meet

the needs of society. Retro M. Hilty, while discussing

economic, legal and social impacts of counterfeiting,

suggests that imitations of (patented) products,

as distinguished from identical use, are good for

competition and innovation and therefore should

not be punished. Also, as the boundary between

(welcomed) imitations and (unwelcomed) identical

use is not clear, a very strong enforcement of the

latter (e.g. through criminal measures) can be a

deterrent for the former as well as to competition

in the markets in general. The same argument in

   

seems to be underdeveloped. Ansgar Ohly provides

an excellent analysis of whether IP law should also

protect the interests of consumers. Ohly suggests

a wisely differentiated answer: in the case of

patent and copyright, he does not see such a need;

however, in regard to trademark law, he concludes

that ‘consumer interests cannot be ignored’, and the

inclusion of consumer protection as one of the goals

Christophe Geiger (ed.), Criminal

Enforcement of Intellectual Property.

A Handbook of Contemporary Research

Edward Elgar 2012, 416 pages, ISBN 978-1-84980-146-1

by Rita Matulionyte,

Dr. iur., LL.M., Deputy Director at Law Institute of Lithuania

© 2013 Rita Matulionyte

Everybody may disseminate this ar ticle by electr onic means and make it available for d ownload under the terms and

conditions of the Digita l Peer Publishing Licence (DPPL). A copy of the license text may be obtaine d at http://nbn-resolving.

de/urn:nbn:de:0009-dppl-v3-en8 ..

Recommended citation: Rit a Matulionyte, Book Revie w – Christophe Geiger (ed.), Criminal Enforcement of Int ellectual

Property. A Handbook of Cont emporary Research, 4 (2013) JIPITEC 63, par a. 1.