---
title: "Copyright Infringement Defense"
url: "https://legal.ge/en/service/crim-criminal-law-en/copyright-infringement-defense-en"
field: "Criminal Law"
description: "Infringement of copyright: composition, punishments, the five and ten thousand lari thresholds Legal.ge."
reviewed: "2026-07-09"
updated: "2026-10-14"
publisher: "legal.ge"
---

# Copyright Infringement Defense

> Source: legal.ge, https://legal.ge/en/service/crim-criminal-law-en/copyright-infringement-defense-en

## The Composition of Infringement of Copyright and Neighbouring Rights

Infringement of copyright and neighbouring rights is established in a separate criminal norm, and it unites three directions: the appropriation of authorship of an object of copyright or coercion to co-authorship; the commission of that act more than once; and, in violation of the law on copyright and neighbouring rights, the reproduction of a work, phonogram, videogram or database, the unauthorized acquisition, import, storage, sale, rental, transfer of copies or other infringement of the right of the holder — with the aim of receiving income in a large amount. The object of the accusation is therefore not abstract copying, but the acts precisely enumerated in the law, and the defence's first task is precisely to verify the correspondence of the charge to this enumeration, including the boundary between the criminal composition and a civil-law dispute.

The full text is available on legal.ge after signing in: https://legal.ge/en/service/crim-criminal-law-en/copyright-infringement-defense-en

### What is appropriation of authorship?

Attributing another's authorship of an object of copyright to oneself, or coercing to co-authorship — these acts form the first composition of the norm.

### How is the value calculated?

By the value of the copies or by the income receivable by the holder upon lawful use — the correct calculation of these indicators is the foundation of the qualification and a subject of the defence's verification.

### Which technical acts are criminalized?

Reproduction and the unauthorized acquisition, import, storage, sale, rental and transfer of copies — beyond the enumerated acts the norm does not extend automatically.

### What does the defence check first?

The intent of the act, the existence of the aim of income, the correctness of the calculation of the amount and procedural violations — on these four aspects the outcome of the case depends.