Please, see replies to questions 1 - 8.
[Answer 1: The District Courts in the Republic of Bulgaria (in Sofia city, the capital, it is the Sofia City Court) have the exclusive jurisdiction over cases of infringement of copyright and neighbouring rights (Article 96 of the Law on Copyright and Neighbouring Rights (LCNR) and cases of infringement of trademarks, service marks, industrial designs and appellations of origin (Article 51 of the Law on Trademarks and Industrial Designs). The Sofia City Court has the exclusive jurisdiction over cases of infringement of patents (Article 64, paragraph 1 of the Patent Law) and cases of infringement of registered plant varieties (Article 52 of the Law on Protection of New Plant Varieties and Animal Breeds).]
[Answer 2: The persons with standing to assert IPRs are the authors, the holders of copyright and neighbouring rights, trademarks, geographical indications, industrial designs, patent owners and owners of a certificate for a plant variety. These persons shall be represented by lawyers, legal advisers or other persons, envisaged in the law, legally authorized to appear in court. Management of copyright may be entrusted to "collective management organizations" - legally constituted entities authorized by the copyright holders. Once authorized, such entities may exercise the rights entrusted to their management and assert them in all types of administrative or legal proceedings (Article 40 of the Law on Copyright and Neighbouring Rights). The same requirements are applied with regard to neighbouring rights - Article 73 in relation with Article 40 of the Law on Copyright and Neighbouring Rights. Principally, the court may order the party to appear personally to clarify the facts relating to the case. The court orders it either on a request of the opposing party or by its own (ex officio) initiative -Article 114 of the Code of Civil Procedure. The non-appearance of a party, brought before the court in the appropriate order, shall not hamper the proceedings on investigating the case. The court postpones the suit investigation in case one of the parties or its representative does not appear before the court due to disease or another reasonable request.]
[Answer 3: The civil procedural rules, stipulated in the Code of Civil Procedure, related to producing evidence and the means of proving evidence are applied. Each party may request the opposing party or a third party, not a party in the procedure, to submit documents which are in its possession. A condition for the admission of a proof is its significance for the solution of the problem that the party states - Article 152 of the Code of Civil Procedure. The court decides which of the proposed evidence should be demonstrated and has the power to order the submission of such evidence.]
[Answer 4: Evidence demonstration shall be conducted in a way which respects state, business, and commercial secrets. The Code of Civil Procedure authorizes the court, ex officio or on a request of one of the parties, to order the hearing of the case to be held in camera, if, because of the specific circumstances of the case its public hearing could be harmful for the public interest or for the private life of the parties. In this case only the parties, their authorized representatives, experts and witnesses, as well as the persons who are admitted to participate by the judge of the court, are admitted in the Court Hall - Article 105, paragraph 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure.]
[Answer 5: The right holder of copyright and neighbouring rights, trademarks, service marks, industrial designs and appellations of origin, who has suffered any injury due to an infringement of IPRs shall be entitled to submit a claim for indemnification to the respective Regional Court. The owner of a patent and the owner of a certificate for a plant variety shall be entitled to submit a claim for indemnification to the Sofia City Court. When the court accepts such a claim, it enacts a decision on the indemnity. The criteria for the determination of its amount is the remuneration which the claiming party could have got if a contract for the use of the work had been signed. The amount of the damages and losses suffered has to be proven by the person who claims them. The indemnification is due for material or non-material damages (if there is casual-consecutive correlation with the infringement), as well as for the direct losses and the benefits missed. According to Article 95 of the Law on Copyright and Neighbouring Rights, the owner of infringed IPRs may submit a claim to the District Court in order to prevent anyone from the illegitimate use of the work - object of infringed IPR. The only prerequisite is the existence of usage of the work not permitted by the author or by explicit legal provision. The claimant is obliged to prove that he is the holder of the infringed IPR, as well as the fact of the infringement (which must exist at the moment of infringement). The court with its decision on the acceptance of the claim may enact: - restraint or prohibition of the not permitted use of the work (Article 95, paragraph 1 of the Law on Copyright and Neighbouring Rights); - seizure and destruction of illegitimately produced copies of the work, including negatives, master copies, printing forms and other used for the purposes of copying (Article 95, paragraph 2 of the Law on Copyright and Neighbouring Rights); - seizure and putting out of operation the copying and reproducing equipment used exclusively for committing infringements (Article 95, paragraph 3 of the Law on Copyright and Neighbouring Rights); - receiving the illegitimately produced copies of the work, including negatives, master copies, printing forms and other at cost price (Article 95, paragraph 4 of the Law on Copyright and Neighbouring Rights). The general protection as stipulated in Article 97, paragraph 1 of the Code of Civil Procedure provides that the holder of IPRs may submit a claim for establishment who the author is, respectively the performer, producer, inventor, breeder, etc. In case the claimant has not at his/her disposal any other claims, he/she may submit a groundless profiteering claim under Article 59 of the Law on Obligations and Contracts. A prerequisite for its submission is the profiteering of the defendant on the account of the author. The court with its decision on the claim acceptance grants everything with which the defendant has been profiteered to the claimant.]
[Answer 6: There are no special provisions in the IPRs protection legislation envisaging the direct obligation of the infringer to inform the right holder of the identity of persons participating in reproduction and distribution of the illegitimately produced copies. According to the general principles of the Code of Civil Procedure, each party is obliged to establish the circumstances on which it bases its claims and objections, as well as may require the other party or a third party, not a party in the procedure, to present a document that is at its disposal. Nobody has the right to refuse testimony, except in the cases explicitly provided in the Law. Before the court, witnesses are obliged to announce all data known by them on the identity of persons participating in the process of reproduction and distribution of illegitimately recorded copies of the work, object of infringement. The facts for which the party of an IPR suit has created obstacles for collecting evidence admitted by the court, has refused to answer or has given deviate or obscure answers, may be accepted by the court as proven on the base of the circumstances of the suit available.]
[Answer 7: In the case of a wrongfully decided civil claim for IPRs protection as a result of which the defendant has been sentenced either to pay indemnification or to restrain from committing of defined actions, he has at his disposal all means for defence specified in the civil proceedings: - The defendant can appeal the court decision before its entering into force at the Supreme Court (or the correspondent Appealing Court according to Article 72 in connection with Article 39 of the Law on Legal Authority). The court may repeal the decision and examine the appeal; repeal the decision and send back the case for a new hearing to the District (City) Court; terminate the case; or announce the non-validity of the decision. - The defendant can apply for judicial review proceedings before the Supreme Court against a court decision which has entered into force. The judicial review proceedings shall be initiated on a written petition by one of the parties through the First Instance Court, that has issued the decision being appealed, or by the General Prosecutor. - The defendant may apply for repeal of the decision which has entered into force. The procedure may be initiated either by the interested party - the wrongly sentenced defendant in an IPR suit (through a petition submitted to the First Instance Court), or by the General Prosecutor, or the Chairman of the Supreme Court.]
[Answer 8: The length and cost of the proceedings before the court vary in relation to the complexity and nature of the legal or administrative proceeding. For civil legal proceedings, state fees and costs are being collected. The state fees shall be determined on the base of the claim price in accordance with Tariff Nr. 1 to the Law on State Fees, collected by the courts, Prosecutor Office, investigation authorities and the Ministry of Justice and shall be paid by the claimant at the moment of bringing the claim before the court. Generally, the claim price, respectively in case of claims for IPRs, shall be determined by the claimant. If the evaluation is difficult at the moment of bringing the claim before the court, the claim price shall be approximately determined by the court and further the fee shall be paid up to the amount or recovered up to the amount determined by the court as the claim price in its final decision on the settlement of the suit. Parties are obliged to pay also the costs for witnesses, experts and inspections completed. The amount of the costs shall be determined by the court and shall be paid by the party that has requested the participation of the witnesses, experts and the inspections completed. With the enacted decision the court assigns the state fees, costs and remuneration of one lawyer, paid by the claimant, to the defendant proportionately to the accepted part of the claim - Article 64, paragraph 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure.]