Spain: Organic Law No. 1/2015 of March 30, 2015

July 1, 2015

Spain: The Organic Law No. 1/2015 of March 30, 2015, which amends the Penal Code (Organic Law No. 10/1995 of November 23, 1995), entered into force on July 1, 2015.

Among other things, the law introduces major changes in the field of IP: (i) extension of the definition of criminal copyright offence so as to include any act of exploitation other than acts of reproduction, plagiarism, distribution and communication to the public; (ii) introduction of new criminal penalties for piracy websites; (iii) classification of copyright and trademark offences to apply the penalties to the gravity of the offences and; (iv) increasing penalties for different types of copyright and trademark infringements.