Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1
Associate Professor, Department of International Law, Faculty of Law, University of Qom, Qom, Islamic Republic of Iran
2
PhD student in Criminal Law and Criminology, Faculty of Humanities, Islamic Azad University of Qom/Qom/Islamic Republic of Iran
10.22091/diplic.2026.14759.1037
Abstract
The expansion of the knowledge‑based economy and the importance of intangible assets in
economic competition have increased the need to reassess the mechanisms of criminal
protection for industrial property. The enactment of the 2024 Industrial Property Protection
Act introduced a new framework for criminal intervention in this field, thereby requiring
evaluation from the perspective of criminal policy. This study examines Iran’s legislation
for the protection of industrial property in light of the 2024 Act and the obligations arising
from international trade law. The research adopts a descriptive–analytical approach and is
grounded in documentary and library‑based methods. To achieve this, domestic legislation,
international instruments, judicial materials, and leading academic sources were reviewed,
and analyzed through legal and comparative methods. Our findings prove that the 2024 Act,
by extending protection to areas such as trade secrets and unfair competition, and by
introducing corporate criminal liability takes a meaningful step toward strengthening the
system of criminal protection. At the same time, the lack of a clear definition of “commercial
scale,” the wide reach of criminalization, and the continued possibility of imposing
imprisonment in certain cases have created conditions that risk expanding penal intervention
beyond what is proportionate. The results corroborate that Iran’s legislative criminal policy
in the field of industrial property is still inconsistent with principles of necessity,
proportionality, and minimum criminal intervention. Also, it is essential to redefine the
criteria for criminal intervention, limit the use of imprisonment, strengthen civil and
administrative enforcement mechanisms, and establish specialized institutions capable of
managing the complexities of industrial property protection.
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