Criminal Law Protection of Intellectual Property Rights in Architectural and Engineering Works in Iranian law

Intellectual property rights are ownership of the works and intellectual efforts of individuals, which, by providing some elements including originality, novelty and innovation, due to the nature of the intellectual work, bring relatively exclusive rights to the creator. Contrary to popular belief, intellectual property is not an absolute right and it can also include the public rights. While analyzing the issue of intellectual property rights in the construction industry as works of art and industry, this article has examined the legal protections in two stages before and after construction and it is based on this opinion that the use of designs and ideas implemented by other engineers does not necessarily mean an infringement of the original creator's rights and is considered as a part of the growing nature of the engineering world. Also, it is concluded that in the absence of a clear legal perspective, at the time of conflict between its material and intellectual rights, at least in the field of engineering and industry, the principle of material ownership prevails and the owner has the right to change the created engineering artifact based on his needs, but the owner of the idea can prevent the attribution of the work to himself and recover his suffered possible or absolute damages, if any. Finally, from the criminal aspect, it is found that violation of intellectual rights is no longer a crime merely related to the private rights of individuals, and it is necessary to identify it as a public crime aligns with the public interest and the social and economic developments.