Notifying Member

Sweden

Details of the notified legal text

Title

Law (2020: 543) amending the Act (1992: 1685) on the Protection of Typographies for Semiconductor Products - Issued on the 17^th of June 2020

Subject matter

Layout-designs (topographies) of integrated circuits

Nature of notification

[X]     Main dedicated intellectual property law or regulation

[  ]     Other law or regulation

Link to legal text^[*]

https://ip-documents.info/2020/IP/SWE/20_7338_00_et.pdf

https://ip-documents.info/2020/IP/SWE/20_7338_00_x.pdf

Notification status

[  ]     First notification

[X]     Amendment or revision to notified legal text

[  ]     Replacement or consolidation of notified legal text(s)

Previous notification(s) referred to

IP/N/1/SWE/L/1

Brief description of the notified legal text

With the amendments new levels of penalties have been introduced for intentional serious offences in the Swedish intellectual property acts. The applicable penalty for standard offences is a fine or imprisonment for up to two years. If the infringement was committed intentionally and is considered serious, the penalty is imprisonment for a minimum of six months up to a maximum of six years. When assessing whether an infringement is serious, particular consideration has to be given to whether the act concerned

1. has been preceded by particular planning;

2. was part of criminal activities conducted in an organized form;

3. was conducted on a large scale; or

4. was otherwise of a particularly dangerous nature.

As a consequence of these amendments new crime classifications have been introduced. Furthermore, the rules on when the prosecutors can initiate proceedings have been changed in all intellectual property acts. It is now only possible for the prosecutors to initiate proceedings under these acts if it is motivated for being in the public interest.

Language(s) of notified legal text

English, Swedish

Entry into force

1 September 2020

Other date

Notification details

Submission date of notification

27 November 2020

Other information

Agency or authority responsible

Anna Enbert

Deputy Director at the Ministry of Justice

anna.enbert@regeringskansliet.se

+46(7)27157297