On February 29, 2024, the Supreme Court (Criminal Chamber) issued a ruling addressing a dispute concerning a crime against intellectual property. The company ABASIC S.L., creator of the artistic prints for the brand Desigual, faced off against Ali&Alex, S.L. and its manager Daniel. They were accused of marketing handbags that reproduced ABASIC S.L.’s original artistic creations without authorization.

As a result of a police operation, 3,746 handbags reproducing ABASIC S.L.’s original designs were seized from Ali&Alex, S.L., which were appraised, and the damage was quantified at €155,963.43.

Initially, Daniel was convicted at first instance under Article 270.1 of the Criminal Code but appealed before the Provincial Court of Valencia, which acquitted him of the crime for which he had previously been convicted. ABASIC S.L. filed a cassation appeal, arguing that Article 270.1 of the Criminal Code had been wrongly interpreted in relation to Article 10.1(e) of the Intellectual Property Law, a matter of particular relevance given that, to date, different Provincial Courts had issued contradictory rulings.

According to ABASIC S.L.’s interpretation, the incorporation of a plastic work by third parties into a product intended for commerce falls under Article 270.1 of the Criminal Code, and the Supreme Court agreed with this view, allowing the appeal and convicting Daniel and ALY & ALEX S.L. as liable parties for the crime against intellectual property. This crime is constituted by the unauthorized commercialization of registered plastic works protected under intellectual property law, even when applied to products such as handbags and purses.

Protection against intellectual property crimes safeguards the artistic creations of third parties and their commercial exploitation. Consequently, the defendants were convicted for the unauthorized commercialization of plastic works protected by Article 270 of the Criminal Code, due to the imitation of original designs in prints and the profit gained from the commercial exploitation of the design’s appeal.