Any third person, who knowingly sells, offers on sale, is making rent, detains or introduces on
the territory of the Republic of Rwanda, the alleged infringing goods for commercial
purposes, shall be considered as committing the same offence.
Article 262: Proceedings against an act of forgery
On a request by the owner of the protected right, the competent tribunal shall order the
infringer to pay the right owner damages and adequate compensation for the infringement of
his or her intellectual property right provided that the infringer acted knowingly or with
reasonable grounds to know of the infringement.
For an industrial property title, the request for the competent tribunal to order the payment of
damages may be filed only after the protection title of industrial property right in question is
granted and shall relate to acts of infringement practiced at the filing date of the application of
industrial title or subsequent to this date.
Article 263: Criminal penalties for an act of forgery of industrial property title
Any person who knowingly performs an act constituting an infringement under paragraph one
and paragraph three(3) of article 261 of this Law, or an unlawful act as per paragraph one of
article 5, paragraph three ( 3) of article 164 and articles 180 to 185 of this Law, shall commit
an offence and shall be liable to a maximum fine of fifty thousand Rwandan Francs (50.000)
to five hundred millions Rwandan Francs (500.000.000) or a maximum term of
imprisonment of five (5) years, or one or both of penalties.
Any person who steals or uses by fraudulent manner a formula of invention in any industrial
activity shall be punished of an active confinement of one to five (5) years and a fine of five
to ten times the value of profits attributable to the infringement.
In addition to criminal penalties, the competent tribunal may also order the seizure,
confiscation and destruction of the incriminating items and of all materials or instruments
used mainly for the crime to be committed.
Article 264: Criminal penalties for an act of forgery of copyrights and related rights
Any person, who knowingly performs an act constituting an infringement under the paragraph
two (2) and paragraph three (3) of the article 261 of this Law, shall commit an offence and
shall be liable of the following penalties:
1° for producer of phonogram and publisher: a maximum term of imprisonment of five (5) to
ten (10) years or a maximum fine of five millions Rwandan francs (5,000,000) to ten
millions Rwandan francs (10,000,000 ) or one or both of penalties;
2° for distributor and bookseller: a maximum term of imprisonment of one year to five (5)
years or a maximum fine of five hundred thousand Rwandan francs ( 500,000) to five
hundred thousand Rwandan francs , or one or both of penalties;
3° for the retailer: a maximum fine of twenty thousand (20,000) to one hundred thousand
(100,000) Rwandan francs.