Page 401 - Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)

procedures shall be applied in such a manner as to avoid the SUBSECTION 2
creation of barriers to legitimate trade and to provide for CIVIL REMEDIES
47
safeguards against their abuse.

2. Procedures concerning the enforcement of intellectual property Article 11.59: Fair and Equitable Procedures
rights shall be fair and equitable. They shall not be unnecessarily
complicated or costly, or entail unreasonable time-limits or 1. Each Party shall make available to right holders civil judicial
48
unwarranted delays. procedures concerning the enforcement of any intellectual
property right covered by this Chapter. Defendants shall have the
3. In implementing this Section, each Party shall take into account right to written notice which is timely and contains sufficient detail,
the need for proportionality between the seriousness of the including the basis of the claims. All parties to the procedures
infringement of the intellectual property right and the applicable shall be allowed to be represented by independent legal counsel,
remedies and penalties, as well as, if applicable, the interests of and procedures shall not impose overly burdensome
third parties. requirements concerning mandatory personal appearances. All
parties to such procedures shall be duly entitled to substantiate
4. The Parties understand that this Section does not create any their claims and to present all relevant evidence. The procedures
obligation to put in place a judicial system for the enforcement of shall provide a means to identify and protect confidential
intellectual property rights distinct from that for the enforcement information, unless this would be contrary to the Party’s
of law in general, nor does it affect the capacity of each Party to constitutional requirements.
enforce its law in general. Nothing in this Section shall create any
obligation with respect to the distribution of resources as between 2. Each Party may permit the use of alternative dispute resolution
enforcement of intellectual property rights and the enforcement of procedures to resolve civil disputes concerning intellectual
law in general. property rights.

5. In civil proceedings involving copyright of authors, each Party
shall provide for a presumption that, in the absence of proof to Article 11.60: Damages
46
the contrary, the person whose name is indicated in the usual
manner as the author of the work is the author of the work. The 1. Each Party shall provide that in civil judicial proceedings
49
obligation contained in the preceding sentence shall apply to concerning the enforcement of intellectual property rights, its
criminal and administrative proceedings if applicable in a Party’s judicial authorities have the authority to order the infringer to pay
laws and regulations. the right holder damages adequate to compensate for the injury
the right holder has suffered because of an infringement of that
right holder’s intellectual property right by an infringer who
knowingly, or with reasonable grounds to know, engaged in
infringing activity.

47 A Party may comply with the obligations under this Subsection to provide civil judicial
procedures concerning the enforcement of geographical indications in accordance with
footnote 4 of Article 23 of the TRIPS Agreement.

48 For the purposes of this Article, “right holder” includes federations and associations
that have legal standing to assert such rights.
46 For greater certainty, a Party may implement this paragraph on the basis of sworn
statements or documents having evidentiary value, such as statutory declarations. A 49 A Party may also provide that the right holder may not be entitled to any of the
Party may also provide that these presumptions are rebuttable presumptions that may remedies set out in paragraphs 1 and 3 if there is a finding of non-use of a trademark.
be rebutted by evidence to the contrary. For greater certainty, there is no obligation for a Party to provide for the possibility of
any of the remedies in paragraphs 1 and 3 to be ordered in parallel.

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