Introduction
On 2 February 2021 the Madrid Court of Appeal nullified a first-instance trial court judgment which had acquitted the defendants of committing a criminal offence. The appeal court found that the trial court had wrongly:
declared the facts of the case to be a misdemeanour against intellectual property (and not a criminal offence); and
consequently, determined that the statute of limitations for misdemeanours had lapsed.
Facts
The proceedings started with the seizure of garments which illegally reproduced several well-known trademarks from a stall at the Outlet Fair that took place in the Glass Pavilion of the
Casa de Campo, Madrid. The defendants were responsible for the stall and one of them was the manager of a company that dealt with the garments storage, distribution and commercialisation.