EUIPO s anti-scam activities: Legal actions. Krisztian Toth, Litigation Service Alicante, 28 February 2017

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1 EUIPO s anti-scam activities: Legal actions Krisztian Toth, Litigation Service Alicante, 28 February 2017

2 LEGAL ACTIONS, COOPERATION AND INTERNAL COORDINATION International Cooperation and Legal Affairs Department Anti-scam activities Cooperation Anti-Fraud (Anti-Scam) Network Internal coordination Internal Working Group Legal actions SE and ES cases

3 LEGAL PROCEEDINGS IN SWEDEN: BACKGROUND Ad hoc arrest of persons mailing a large amount of invoices in Uppsala, Sweden After investigation, the Swedish police and prosecutors identified misleading invoices (in the name of OMIH ) in possession of the suspects EUIPO assisted the Swedish authorities in criminal investigations In December 2015 charges were brought by the Swedish public prosecutor against suspects for aggravated fraud The case has been heard in the district court of Uppsala in Sweden from January to May 2016 The court rendered the judgment on 23 June 2016

4 SWEDISH CASE: THE SENTENCE Three persons were found guilty of attempted aggravated fraud Two persons were found guilty of aiding and abetting attempted aggravated fraud Four persons were sentenced to imprisonment (between 2 months and 1 year) and one person s imprisonment was suspended by the court The persons were not found guilty of charges on completed aggravated fraud and victim s claims for damages in relation to these charges were dismissed

5 SWEDISH CASE: THE COURT S REASONING The court concluded that the invoices were fraudulent and not an offer as claimed The invoices were intended to mislead recipients into paying money Attempted aggravated fraud: invoices that have been in the process of being mailed or had been mailed No completed aggravated fraud: (1) no sufficient proof that each paying recipient made the payment because he/she was actually mislead by the invoice and not for any other reasons (2) no testimony from any of victims at the trial and was not possible to identify who of the paying recipients was actually misled

6 SWEDISH CASE: FOLLOW-UP AND CURRENT STATUS No sentence on completed aggravated fraud: not clear why recipients would pay misleading invoices if they did not believe that payments were related to the registration of EU trade marks EUIPO follow-up jointly with Marques: contacting victims to obtain statements on the reasons for payment; outcome sent to the Public Prosecutor The judgment of 1st instance court in Sweden was appealed by the public prosecutor EUIPO and Marques representative gave witness statements to the Swedish police and public prosecutor Trial postponed due to health status of one of the charged persons and will start in September 2017

7 SWEDISH CASE: FOLLOW-UP AND CURRENT STATUS No sentence on completed aggravated fraud: not clear why recipients would pay misleading invoices if they did not believe that payments were related to the registration of EU trade marks EUIPO follow-up jointly with Marques: contacting victims via their representatives to obtain statements on the reasons for payment; outcome sent to the Public Prosecutor The judgment of 1st instance court appealed by the public prosecutor EUIPO and Marques representative gave witness statements to the Swedish police and public prosecutor in August 2016 Trial postponed due to health status of a charged person and will start in September 2017

8 EUIPO S CRIMINAL CLAIM IN SPAIN EUIPO lodged a criminal claim at the Police in Alicante Province in February 2017 Directed not only against suspects residing in Spain but also against those from other Member States Europol is involved in the procedure EUIPO solicited in its submission the involvement of Eurojust Lesson learned from the Swedish case: EUIPO also relied on supporting letters received from User Associations explaining reasons for payment by Users and characteristics of this type of fraud EUIPO to follow-up the development of the case

9 Case example of the scammer IPO MISLEADING! 26 User reports received in December 2016 in a week EUIPO actions : contacting the bank, reporting to Europol, warning messages on Twitter, misleading invoice added to the website content, criminal claim UK IPO informed us that they also took action

Ad-Hoc Query on family reunification with prisoners who are nationals of a Member State. Requested by LT EMN NCP on 15 th October 2009

Ad-Hoc Query on family reunification with prisoners who are nationals of a Member State Requested by LT EMN NCP on 15 th October 2009 Compilation produced on 13 th November 2009 Responses from Austria,