Protection in Poland
countries, Poland has a relatively short
history of legislation regulating legal
aspects of intellectual property. After
over 120 years without its statehood
entity, Poland could only form its own,
modern legal regulation after the end
of World War I in 1918. However, after
regaining independence, in Poland,
the measures aimed at the settlement
of the legal status (and, consequently,
providing legal protection) of broadly
defined creative activity were quickly
undertaken. Already in 1920, Poland
ratified the Berne Convention for the
Protection of Literary and Artistic Works.
In 1926, the Parliament of the Republic
of Poland passed the first act on
copyright protection. In the communist
period in Poland, a new act on copyright
was implemented (1952), which was
in force until 1994, when the current
Copyright and Related Rights Act
was passed, which was adjusted to the
requirement of the European Union with
the amendment of April 1, 2004.
rights, apart from the above-mentioned
act, Poland is bound by all the European
Union regulations in this respect, and
also by international conventions such
as: the Berne Convention (1886), the
Rome Convention (1961), the TRIPS
Agreement (1994) and the WIPO Treaty
(1996). The characteristic feature
of the Polish regulation in reference
to managing copyrights is strong
administrative supervision over the
execution of the so-called collective
management.
Collective management of copyright
and related rights is exercised by
Collective Management of Copyright
and Related Rights Agencies (OZZ).
However, in order to be able to perform
their functions, they must obtain
administrative decision issued by the
Minister of Culture. The control function
of the minister is based on general
prerequisite defining their competencies
with regard to management, and stating
whether Collective Management
Agency "appropriately performs its
such a general control category gives
rise to the danger of misuse of power
by public administration authorities.
Detailed control competencies are
concentrated around financial reporting
aspects of OZZ. At the same time, the
entity entitled to execute financial
rates control with regard to collective
management of intellectual property
copyright is the Copyright Committee
appointed by the Minister of Culture.
It is a specific entity formed by an
administrative body, but operating
within arbitration whose resolutions are
controlled by common court.
With regard to industrial property
right, in Poland the Act of 2000 is
in force, and since the accession of
Poland to the European Union (May
1, 2004) Poland also has been bound
by appropriate union regulations in
this respect. Furthermore, Poland
joined several international agreements
referring to industrial property,
including: the Paris Convention (1883),
Cherka & Wasowski, focuses his practice on complex civil and
administrative litigation and intellectual property law.
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