FORENSIC INVESTIGATION OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OBJECTS IN UKRAINE: SUBJECT, TASKS AND COMPETENCE

Abstract

The publication is devoted to topical issues of determining one of the most significant methodological bases of intellectual property investigation: its subject, objects, tasks for its solution, and delimitation of competence of experts of various types of investigation. This work highlights that in Ukraine, since 2002, intellectual property has been studied within separate area of forensic investigation – Intellectual Property Investigation. The subject of intellectual property forensic investigation is the facts and circumstances of the case on the properties, signs, patterns of creation and use of intellectual property objects, their value, losses caused and economic transactions in relation to these objects, which are important for pre-trial investigation or legal proceedings and are established by applying special knowledge according to the procedure established by law. Each type of intellectual property investigation establishes the facts and circumstances regarding the relevant intellectual property objects, as in most cases the study object is specific to a particular type of forensic investigation. Meanwhile, it is noted that when investigating within one expert specialty, various intellectual property objects may become objects of specific investigation. Based on the task assigned to the expert, need to study the properties and features of a particular intellectual property object, and use of appropriate methods, the amount of special knowledge required to solve this task is determined. The study results show that competence of intellectual property expert is determined primarily by the subject of investigation in the relevant direction and methodological approaches that should be used to ensure the scientific validity of the expert opinion. The nature of study object plays an important role when choosing the study methods. The work considers examples of delimitation of competence of experts in certain areas of intellectual property investigation and other types of forensic investigation. The attention is also paid to certain points to be considered when determining the amount of required special knowledge.