Protección penal del diseño industrial en la era del "branding"una interpretación diferenciadora del artículo 273.3 del Código Penal

Abstract

This paper exposes the specificity of industrial design as an object protected by intellectual property (design patents), and the difference this specificity makes in interpretation of intellectual property crimes. Yet, in modern (marketing) economy, industrial design plays sometimes a role as a technical innovation, but sometimes only looks like a complement of a brand. Therefore, not all cases of design patent violation should be solved in the same way. There are cases in which violation is a proper patent violation, with economical damage necessarily involved. But there are also cases in which design patent violation is onlya part of one attack against a brand. And, then, it is not possible to guarantee that any economical damage will take necessarily place.