The Appellate Court in Warsaw in the order of 19 May 1998, case file I ACa 216/98, ruled that the refusal to register a press title is allowed when press titles are identical. The protection for the existing press title is based solely on article 21 of Polish Act of 26 January 1984 on Press law – APL – (in Polish: ustawa Prawo prasowe), Journal of Laws (Dziennik Ustaw) No. 5, item 24, with later amendmets.

A registrar body shall deny the registration if:
[1] the application does not contain data that the Act describes (the daily newspaper’s or the periodical’s title, the seat of the publisher and the exact address of the editorial office, the particulars of the editor-in-chief, the particulars of the publisher, the frequency of publishing of the daily newspaper or the periodical) and

[2] if granting registration would constitute infringement of the right to the legal protection of an existing press title.

The Court held that the protection exists only if both names/titles are identical.

Categories: Art. 21 APL | case law | personal rights or interests | Polish Act on Press Law | Polish Appeallate Court | press law | press title.