The bodies of justice, internal affairs, economic investigations and State revenue take measures to protect intellectual property rights.
In 2022, the territorial bodies of justice, in accordance with the Entrepreneurial Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan, conducted 2 inspections for the use of trademarks protected in Kazakhstan.
According to the results of the inspections, 2 offenses were identified.
According to Article 158 of the Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan «On Administrative Offenses» (hereinafter – the Administrative Code), 2 cases were initiated, 2 persons were brought to administrative responsibility.
The total amount of fines amounted to 245 thousand 040 tenge. 746 units of counterfeit products totaling 1 million 656 thousand 240 tenge were seized from illegal trafficking.
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 visits to the Republic of Kazakhstan» inspections are not carried out with respect to small and microenterprises. In this connection, the number of inspections carried out has significantly decreased.
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 2022, there were 8 criminal cases under Article 198 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan (hereinafter – the Criminal Code) (violation of copyright and related rights).
Of the cases in the proceedings, two have been completed (terminated due to reconciliation of the parties), the terms of the investigation in 2 cases have been interrupted.
Due to the absence of copyright holders and the insignificance of the damage (less than 200 MCI) on 16 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 Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan).
In the period from April 25 to 27 and from July 26 to July 28, 2022, operational and preventive measures «Counterfeit» and «Anti-Fraud» aimed at identifying, suppressing and solving crimes committed using information technology, as well as identifying persons illegally distributing products prohibited in free circulation were held on the territory of the republic.
About 2,136 units of counterfeit products were seized from illegal trafficking, including 1,795 counterfeit CD-DVDs, 105 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 countering cybercrime and protecting copyright and related rights.
Training courses are held annually on the basis of departmental educational institutions, including with the participation of copyright holders, as well as foreign and domestic experts.
So, in the period from October 12 to October 14, on the basis of the Almaty Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs named after M. Yesbulatov, a meeting of all employees assigned to the line for combating cybercrime was held, at which problematic issues of countering cybercrime, including violations of copyright and related rights, were discussed.
The Customs Register of Intellectual Property Objects of state Revenue Bodies in 2022 contains 870 trademarks (244 copyright holders) for 8011 items of goods.
Based on the Customs Register of Intellectual Property Objects, in 2022, the territorial state revenue authorities suspended the release of goods for 638 declarations for goods with signs of intellectual property rights infringement for a total value of $12.9 million.
In 2022, 11 administrative materials under Article 158 of the Administrative Code were compiled with respect to foreign goods on the basis of the statements of the rightholders on suspended declarations for goods in respect of participants in foreign economic activity, and
23,426 units of goods were confiscated by the court with subsequent destruction, and fines in the amount of 949,530 tenge were imposed.
In addition, 2 materials totaling 98,628,993 tenge for 24,680 units of goods were sent to the Departments of Economic Investigations in Almaty and East Kazakhstan regions for violations under Article 222 of the Criminal Code for making procedural decisions.
In 2022, the Financial Monitoring Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan registered 8
pre–trial investigations related to violation of intellectual property rights, including 2 cases under Article 198 of the Criminal Code (Violation of copyright and related rights), under Article 222 of the Criminal Code (Illegal use of a trademark, service mark, brand name, geographical indication and the names of the place of origin of the goods) – 6 criminal cases.
Also, the activities of 2 underground workshops for the production of counterfeit household chemicals of various brands belonging to «The Procter & Gamble Company» and CJSC firm «August», were suppressed the amount of damage caused to which amounted to 25.5 million tenge.
In 2022, the Appeal Council under the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Kazakhstan held 19 meetings, at which 86 decisions were made, 26 of them were satisfied, 43 were refused, 17 were partially satisfied, 0 were refused consideration. 16 of 86 decisions were appealed in court.