Judicial Administration Structure for IP Disputes: Albania
Information provided by:
The Albanian Magistrates School
| High Court of Albania | ||||||||
| Tirana Administrative Appeal Court | Tirana Appeal Court | |||||||
| Tirana Administrative District Court | Tirana Civil District Court | Tirana Criminal District Court | ||||||
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| Board of Appeal of the General Directorate of Industrial Property (GDIP) (administrative instance) |
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| Administrative Jurisdiction Appeals to the decisions of the Board of Appeal of GDIP in the form of: a) repeal; b) change; and c) invalidity |
Civil Jurisdiction Infringement of IP rights, unfair competition, trade secrets, licensing agreements, issuance of non-voluntary licenses. Appeals to the decisions of the Board of Appeals of the GDIP |
Criminal Jurisdiction Criminal offenses directly and indirectly related to the infringement of IP rights |
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First instance administrative procedure
Two bodies within the General Directorate of Industrial Property ("GDIP") exercise administrative functions in determining administrative procedures at the first instance:
- The Chamber on Objections Examination ("ChOE"), located within the examination unit of the GDIP, decides on observations and objections made according to art. 193 of the Law on Industrial Property No. 9947 ("LIP"). These include objections of third parties to the registration of industrial designs (art. 124/a of LIP), trademarks (art. 151/a of LIP) and geographical indications or designations of origin (art. 182/ç of LIP);
- The Chamber on Repeal/Invalidation (ChR/I) decides on requests for cancellation or invalidation of a registered industrial design (art. 138/1 of LIP) or trademark (art. 173/7 of LIP), and appeals from rejection decisions (art. 193/a of LIP).
Second instance administrative procedure
The Board of Appeal of the GDIP ("Board") hears appeals from decisions of the ChOE (art. 193/3 of LIP) and ChR/I (art. 193/a/4 of LIP).
Specifically, the Board has jurisdiction to decide the following actions:
1. Oppositions to the grant of a patent filed by third parties (art. 33 of LIP);
2. Appeals from decisions of the GDIP that annul or change a previous, erroneous administrative decision (art. 122/a/3 of LIP);
3. Appeals from decisions of the GDIP that accept or reject a request of an applicant or owner of a design or trademark to restore rights that have been terminated after an elapsed deadline (art. 122/b/6; art. 151/c/6 of LIP);
4. Appeals from decisions of the ChOE on oppositions to the registration of industrial designs (art. 124/a/4 of LIP), trademarks (art. 153/a/3 of LIP), or geographical indications and appellations of origin (art. 182/ç/9 of LIP);
5. Appeals from decisions of the ChR/I that review the rejection of an application to register a design (art. 126/4 of LIP) or trademark (art. 155/4 of LIP);
6. Appeals from decisions of the ChR/I on a request for cancellation/invalidation of an industrial design (art. 138/6 of LIP) or a trademark (art. 173/8 of LIP).
Appeals from decisions of the Board can be filed in the competent court (art. 184/ç of LIP).
There are three types of judicial procedures that deal with IP cases, namely civil, administrative and criminal proceedings.
1. Civil judicial proceedings determine cases related to:
a) infringement of copyright and related rights (arts. 163-173 et seq of Law on Copyright and Related Rights No. 35/2016 ("Copyright Law") and industrial property rights (art. 184 et seq of LIP);
b) infringement of patent rights; revocation of a patent; transfer of patent ownership; patent licensing agreements; issuance of a compulsory license; (art. 94 of LIP);
c) infringement of trade secrets (art. 111/e et seq of LIP);
d) appeals from decisions of the Board of Appeals of the GDIP (art. 94/dh of LIP);
e) infringement of fair competition (arts. 638-639 of Civil Code (CC));
f) damages (arts. 608 et seq of CC and art. 184/c of LIP);
g) fulfillment of contractual obligations (arts. 455 et seq, 659 et seq of CC);
h) contract dissolution (arts. 698 et seq of CC); and
i) fraudulent publications (arts. 617 and 635-637 of CC).
2. Administrative judicial proceedings conducted by the Administrative Court determine appeals from decisions of the Board of Appeal of the GDIP that relate to:
a) annulment (art. 17/1/a of Law on Administrative Courts and Adjudication of Administrative Disputes No. 49/2012);
b) change (art. 17/1/b); and
c) invalidity (art. 17/1/c of Law on Administrative Courts and Adjudication of Administrative Disputes No. 49/2012 and arts. 108, 109, 110, 111, 114 et seq of the Code of Administrative Procedure).
3. Criminal proceeding related to IP cases may be divided into two groups:
a) Criminal offences directly related to infringement of copyright, trademarks, patents and industrial design rights, such as those enumerated in arts. 148, 149, 149/a and 149/b of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Albania ("Criminal Code");
b) Criminal offences indirectly related to IP infringement, such as those provided by the Criminal Code in arts. 138 and 138/a (theft and trafficking of artworks), 147 (fraud relating to artworks), 176 (smuggling of artwork), 190 (forgery), 284/d (production and marketing of counterfeit or life-threatening drugs and medical devices), 288 (import, production sale and storage of foods dangerous to the health or life of people), 288/a (illegal production of industrial and food items and goods) and 288/b (trade and disposal for consumption of fuels in violation of legal quality standards).
The LIP provides that the Tirana District Court and Tirana Administrative District Court have competence to hear industrial property disputes. In practice, two sections have been formed within the Tirana District Court, with the commercial section hearing industrial property cases. The Tirana District Court is also the competent court to determine cases related to trade secrets, according to article 111/e of LIP.
From 2016 to 2021, a total of 126 court decisions were recorded. Among these cases, 87 pertained to matters concerning industrial property. Specifically, 83 decisions addressed trademark violations, three decisions involved patent infringements, and one decision addressed a violation of industrial design. Moreover, in 19 of these cases, references were made to instances of unfair competition. Additionally, 39 decisions were related to copyright disputes.
When considering the jurisdiction of these cases, it is noteworthy that 101 court decisions emerged from civil or commercial proceedings. Furthermore, 21 court decisions followed criminal proceedings concerning violations of intellectual property rights, while an additional four court cases were conducted through administrative proceedings.
Among the total of 126 decisions, it is crucial to note that 40 cases were ultimately dismissed. Additionally, 14 cases witnessed the withdrawal of the complaint by the plaintiff. Moreover, three decisions were made based on the court's assessment of lacking competence. Lastly, two cases were resolved through conciliation.