Intellectual property law is divided into two groups: industrial property law, which includes inventions (patents), trademarks, industrial designs, indications of geographical origin, the right to combat unfair competition, trade secrets, plant varieties, and copyright and related rights.
Copyright encompasses literary and artistic works such as novels, poems, plays, films, musical works, artistic works such as drawings, paintings, photographs, and sculptures, as well as architectural design.
Related rights include the rights of performers in their performances, producers of phonograms in their recordings, and broadcasting organizations in their radio and television programs.
Criminal legal protection plays a particularly significant role in protecting intellectual property rights and, by its nature, is also the most effective form of protection.
The level of legal protection of copyright and related rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina has been raised to the level required by the European legal order.
Double legal protection is provided for authors and holders of copyright and related rights - civil and criminal.
Criminal protection of copyright and related rights is included in the Criminal Code of Republika Srpska in Chapter XXI under the title Criminal Offenses against the Economy and Payment Transactions, through the criminal offense of Unauthorized Use of Another's Business Name and Other Special Marks of Goods or Services (Article 260), as well as the incriminations provided for in the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in which Chapter XXI under the title Criminal Offenses against Copyright Regulates this area.
Chapter XXI of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina contains a total of five criminal offenses (Abuse of Copyright, Unauthorized Use of Copyright, Unauthorized Use of Rights of Sound Recording Producers, Unauthorized Use of Broadcasting Rights, and Unauthorized Distribution of Satellite Signals) and their introduction into our criminal legislation is a result of the necessity of harmonizing domestic criminal legislation with numerous international instruments by which signatory states undertake to take appropriate measures on the criminal level to ensure the protection of copyright (the incriminations are harmonized with the provisions of domestic legislation relating to the protection of copyright, primarily with the Law on Copyright and Related Rights).
All criminal offenses in this chapter of the law are of a blanket nature, which means that to explain their basic characteristics, it is necessary to review domestic and international regulations related to the protection of copyright and related rights.
Intent is the only form of guilt for these criminal offenses because there is no liability for negligent commission of these criminal offenses.
For most of these criminal offenses, mandatory application of security measures of confiscation of objects is provided, and it is also expressly prescribed in the law that objects intended for or used in the commission of any of these criminal offenses or arising from their commission will be confiscated and destroyed.
It is important to know that almost all products containing copyright or other related rights or intellectual property rights clearly indicate the owner of that right, and there is a warning that unauthorized use is punishable by law.
Illegal reproduction, copying, duplication, rental, and sale of protected copyright works (books, films, musical works, computer programs, etc.) cause enormous damage, not only to copyright owners, producers, distributors, but also to the Budget of Republika Srpska due to unpaid turnover tax and other duties representing public revenue.