National contacts
Intellectual Property infringements can have civil and criminal law consequences under the Austrian system. However, the IP offences are subject to private prosecution, which may be initiated only by the person or business damaged by the infringement - not the public prosecutor.
In private prosecution matters, the preliminary investigation is not open by the private prosecutor. The private prosecutor may only apply for provisional pecuniary orders.
Nonetheless, the Austrian Customs Administration can conduct seizure operations.
Austria applies the principle of ‘prosecution after claim of the victim’, stipulating that infringement of IP rights is a private prosecution crime, since this crime concerns the rights of the IP right owner, and it is more suitable for the victim to decide whether to claim his rights or not.
Criminal proceedings are conducted according to the general principles of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The private prosecutor is generally entitled to the same rights as the public prosecutor (with exceptions regarding certain sanctions).
The public prosecutor cannot initiate criminal proceedings, except for criminal offences described in Section 124 of the Criminal Code (Scouting of a business or trade secret for the benefit of foreign countries). In this case, the Public Prosecutor’s Office is responsible for the prosecution of this criminal offence.
According to the Trademark Protection Act, the Copyright Act and the Patent Act, Vienna's Regional Court for criminal matters has exclusive jurisdiction for criminal law remedies based on IP infringements.