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Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)

Intellectual property rights are rights related to intellectual products. An intellectual product is the result of creative activity that is not just related to a specific object. 

Note: An update of this article is pending. Please note that some terms and/or references may differ from the Movement of Goods Act and the Customs Duty Act that enters into force from the 1st of January 2023.

As a general rule, the product can only be used by agreement with the person who is the rightsholders of the exclusive right. Such exclusive rights are protected by international conventions and national law. Norway has several laws that protect intellectual property rights, including the Copyright Act, the Trademarks Act and the Designs Act.

IPR goods (also referred to as pirated copies or pirated goods) are goods that infringe such rights. Such goods are imitations or copies of products with a special trademark, design or patent.

A product does not have to be just a specific object; it can also concern, for example, musical works, designs and computer programs. (See Section 2 of the Copyright Act).

"The main rule is that the individual copyright holder has the sole right to decide how their intellelctual work is made available to others," (Quote by Norwegian Industrial Property Office, 20 October 2020).