Misuse of property / Forgery

Intellectual property refers to the specific rights owned by the authors and bearers of the intellectual property. Intellectual property rights are of an absolute nature, which means that the rights holder has the exlusive right of using intellectual property (such as a patent, a trademark, an industrial design or an artistic work).

Every other person who wants to use in a certain way such intellectual property generally has to get a permission (a licence) from the intellectual property rights holder to use their intellectual creation. The contracts which determine the relationship between the rights holder and the user of the intellectual property are usually in written form. These contracts contain terms of use of the intellectual property (such as a purpose, time period and a territorial scope of its usage, the number of copies, the payment of fees to the rights holder, etc.). In case a person starts using the object of the intellectual property without prior approval by the rights holder, such use is unauthorised and it shall represent the abuse of the intellectual property rights.

Forgery, in the context of the intellectual property rights, stands for a manufacture of the products that imitate the original product marked with a stamp, in a way that at first sight they give the impression of the original product. The most common reason for forgery stands in an illegitimate way of obtaining benefits from the reputation or popularity that the original product, brand or brand holder has with the consumers.

Financial losses suffered by the intellectual property rights holders due to misuse anf forgery are enormous. Therefore, it does not come as a surprise that more and more domestic and international clients ask for detective services for exposing the above mentioned activities.