Infringements of industrial property rights, as defined by the industrial property legislation, are subject, under that same legislation, to the following penalties:
- Patents
Any violation of the rights of a patent owner, as defined in Article 46, shall constitute an infringement and shall render the infringer civilly and criminally liable.
- Infringements shall be punishable with a fine of 5,000 to 50,000 dinars.
- In the event of a repeat offence, a term of imprisonment of one to six months may be imposed in addition to a fine, the amount of which shall be doubled.
- Anyone who improperly assumes the status of owner of a patent application or patent shall be liable to a fine of 1,000 to 5,000 dinars.
- In the event of a repeat offence, the fine shall be doubled.
- Persons entitled to bring an action for infringement may, under an order made by the president of the court on an ex parte application, have a bailiff assisted by an expert undertake a detailed description, with or without attachment, of the allegedly infringing goods or processes.
Where attachment is authorized, it shall be confined to the seizure of any samples necessary to prove the infringement.
Where goods are attached, the order may require the applicant to provide security which must be posted before any goods are seized (Article 86 of Law No. 2000-84).
- Layout-designs (topographies) of integrated circuits
Any violation of the rights of the holder of a layout-design registration, as defined in Article 17, shall constitute an infringement and render the infringer civilly and criminally liable.
- Anyone who knowingly infringes such rights shall be liable to a fine of 1,000 to 50,000 dinars.
- Anyone who causes to appear on his business documents, his advertising or his products words that tend to encourage the belief that a layout-design of an integrated circuit has been registered under this law when in fact it has not or the registration has been cancelled or expired shall be liable to a fine of 500 to 2,000 dinars.
- Repeat offenders shall be liable to a term of imprisonment, in addition to a fine, which shall be doubled.
- In the event of a guilty verdict, the court may order the destruction of the infringing goods or their disposal outside the channels of commerce, together with the forfeiture of the implements used for making them (Article 36).
- The injured party may, even before publication of the registration, cause a detailed description, with or without attachment, of the infringing articles or implements to be undertaken under an order made by the president of the competent court, upon submission of an application and production of the registration certificate.
- The president of the court may require the applicant to provide security, which the latter must post before having the action mentioned in the preceding subparagaph of this article undertaken (Article 38).
- The court may order that the judgement be displayed, at the expense of the guilty party, in the places it shall determine and published, in its entirety or in the form of excerpts, in the newspapers it shall designate (Article 34).
- Industrial designs
Any violation of the rights of the owner of an industrial design, as defined in Article 4 of this law, shall constitute an infringement and render the infringer civilly and criminally liable.
- Anyone who knowingly infringes such rights shall be liable to a fine of 5,000 to 50,000 dinars.
- Anyone who causes to appear on his business documents, his advertising or his products words that tend to encourage the belief that an industrial design has been registered under this law when in fact it has not or the registration has been cancelled or expired shall be liable to a fine of 1,000 to 5,000 dinars (Article 24).
- Repeat offenders shall be liable to imprisonment for one to six months, in addition to a fine, which shall be doubled (Article 25).
- In the event of a guilty verdict, the court may order the forfeiture of the implements used for making the infringing articles (Article 36).
- The injured party may have a bailiff undertake a detailed description, with or without attachment, of the infringing articles or implements under an order made by the president of the competent court, upon submission of an application and production of proof of registration (Article 28).
- The court may order that the judgement be displayed, at the expense of the guilty party, in the places it shall determine and published, in its entirety or in the form of excerpts, in the newspapers it shall designate (Article 24).
Trademarks
Any violation of the rights of the owner of a trademark shall constitute an infringement rendering the infringer civilly and criminally liable.
- Violation of the provisions of Articles 22 and 23 of the law shall constitute an infringement of the rights in the mark (Article 44).
- Anyone who brings an action for infringement under Article 48 of the law may have undertaken, in any place, by a bailiff assisted by an expert and under an order made by the president of the competent court, a detailed description, with or without the taking of samples, or the attachment of goods or services allegedly marked, offered for sale, delivered or supplied, to his detriment or in violation of his rights.
- Where attachment is authorized, it shall be confined to the seizure of samples necessary to prove the infringement. The president of the court may make attachment subject to the provision by the applicant of security sufficient to compensate for any injury suffered by the defendant if the action for infringement subsequently proves to be unfounded (Article 50).
- Subject to the penalties provided by special legislation, anyone who:
- reproduces, copies, uses, affixes, removes or alters a mark in violation of the rights conferred by its registration and the resulting prohibitions, or
- imports or exploits goods presented under a counterfeit mark
shall be liable to a fine of 5,000 to 50,000 dinars (Article 51).
- If one of the offences defined in Articles 51 and 52 of the law is repeated, the offender shall be liable to imprisonment for one to six months, in addition to a fine, which shall be doubled (Article 53).
- If the defendant is found guilty of infringing the provisions of Article 51, 52 or 53, the court may order the forfeiture of the goods and of the implements used for committing the offence.
- The court may also order the destruction of the goods (Article 55).
- In every case, the court may order that the judgement, in its entirety or in the form of excerpts, be published, at the expense of the guilty party, in the newspapers it shall designate and displayed in the places it shall determine, in particular at the main gates of the factories or workshops of the guilty party or in his shop windows.
- Indications of source and appellations of origin
The officers responsible for monitoring appellations of origin and indications of source may seize products put on sale under guaranteed appellations of origin or indications of source and suspected of not coming from the geographical area designated by the appellation or indication.
They may also seize products coming from the geographical area designated by the appellation or indication but not meeting the specified technical production requirements (Article 30 of Law No. 99-57 of 28 June 1999 on guaranteed appellations of origin and indications of source of agricultural products).
Notwithstanding the penalties provided for by the Decree of 10 October 1919 on the repression of fraud in trade in goods and the manufacture of foodstuffs and agricultural or natural products and by Law No. 91-44 of 1 July 1991 on the organization of the distributive trades, as amended by Law No. 92-117 of 7 December 1992 on consumer protection, and the seizure provided for in Article 30 of this law, anyone who infringes the provisions of Articles 9, 16 and 16 (paragraph 2), 26 and 27 of this law shall be liable to a fine ranging from 1,000 to 20,000 dinars. In the event of a repeat offence, this penalty shall be doubled.