The bodies of justice, internal affairs, economic investigations and State revenue take measures to protect intellectual property rights.
In the first half of 2022, the territorial bodies of justice, in accordance with the Entrepreneurial Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan, conducted 1 inspection for the use of trademarks protected in Kazakhstan.
In accordance with the Decree of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated December 26, 2019 No. 229 «On the introduction of a moratorium on inspections and preventive control and supervision with a visit in the Republic of Kazakhstan», inspections are not carried out against small and microenterprises. Therefore, the number of inspections carried out has significantly decreased.
According to the results of the inspections, 1 offense was revealed.
According to Article 158 of the Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan «On Administrative Offenses» (hereinafter – the Administrative Code), 1 case was initiated, 1 person was brought to administrative responsibility.
The total amount of fines amounted to 122 thousand 520 tenge. 744 units of counterfeit products totaling 1 million 626 thousand 240 tenge were seized from illegal trafficking.
The internal affairs bodies, within their competence, carry out tasks aimed at identifying and suppressing criminal offenses in the field of copyright and related rights.
In the first half of 2022, under Article 198 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan (violation of copyright and related rights), 7 criminal cases were pending, of which 3 cases were registered this year.
Of the cases in the proceedings, one has been completed (terminated due to reconciliation of the parties), the rest are in production.
Due to the absence of copyright holders and the insignificance of the damage (less than 200 MCI) on 13 materials, the pre-trial investigation was terminated for lack of a criminal offense (in accordance with part 1 of Article 35 and Article 36 of the CPC).
In the period from April 25 to 27 this year, an operational and preventive measure «Counterfeit» was held on the territory of the republic, aimed at identifying, suppressing and disclosing crimes committed using information technologies, as well as identifying persons illegally distributing products prohibited in free circulation.
About 2 thousand units of counterfeit products were seized from illegal circulation, including 1795 counterfeit CD-DVDs, 101 with unlicensed software and other products (flash cards, computer) – 17.
In addition, the internal affairs bodies pay great attention to improving the professional level of employees in the field of countering cybercrime and protecting copyright and related rights.
Every year, on the basis of departmental educational institutions, advanced training courses are held, including with the participation of copyright holders, as well as foreign and domestic experts.
In the period from June 6 to 11 this year, advanced training courses on the topic were held on the basis of the Almaty Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs named after M.Esbulatov: «Identification, prevention and disclosure of copyright and related rights violations» for employees of territorial police departments.
As of July 1, 2022, Тhe customs register of intellectual property objects contains 870 trademarks (244 rightholders) for 8011 items of goods by the state revenue authorities.
On the basis of the Customs Register of Intellectual Property Objects for
6 months of 2022, the territorial state revenue authorities suspended the release of goods according to 362 declarations for goods with signs of violation of intellectual property rights for a total value of 5.8 million US dollars.
During the specified period, the state revenue authorities initiated 9 administrative cases under Article 158 of the Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan «On Administrative Offenses» for violations of intellectual property rights, which are currently under consideration by judicial authorities.
According to the results of the first half of 2022, the territorial divisions of financial monitoring bodies registered 6 pre–trial investigations into violations of intellectual property rights (Article 198 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan - 1 case, Article 222 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan - 5 cases), including the activities of 2 underground workshops for the production of counterfeit products-household chemicals of various brands owned by «The Procter & Gamble Company» and CJSC firm «August», the amount of damage caused for which amounted to 25.5 million tenge.
In addition, responsible officials of the Financial Monitoring Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan take part in meetings of the Interdepartmental Working Group on Combating Counterfeit Products.
In the first half of 2022, the Appeal Council under the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Kazakhstan held 10 meetings, at which 48 decisions were made, 13 of them were satisfied, 21 were refused, 14 were partially satisfied, 0 were refused consideration.
Of the 48 decisions, 8 were appealed by the court (1 was canceled by the court's decision).