Polish IP & IT law » 2007

Archive for: February, 2007

Personal rights, case II CR 753/90

February 25th, 2007, Tomasz Rychlicki

The Supreme Court in a judgment of 26 September 1991, case file II CR 753/90, published in Przegląd Sądowy 1993, no. 1 p. 95, ruled that a threat or a violation of personal rights/interests of an entiled person and its unlawfulness are the circumstances for the appropriate application of article 24 of the Civil Code – CC – (in Polish: Kodeks Cywilny) of 23 April 1964, Journal of Laws (Dziennik Ustaw) No. 16, item 93, with later amendments.

Article 24
§ 1 The person whose personal rights are threatened by someone else’s action, may require the desist of that action, unless it is not illegal. In the event of the infringement one may also require, the person who committed the violation, to fulfill the actions necessary to remove its effects, in particular, to make a statement of the relevant content and appropriate format. According to the conditions laid down in the Code one may also require monetary compensation or payment of an appropriate amount of money for a social purpose indicated.
§ 2 If as the result of a breach of personal rights one has suffered pecuniary prejudice, the aggrieved person may claim compensation based on general principles.
§ 3 The above shall not prejudice the entitlements provided by other regulations, in particular in copyright law and the patent (invention) law.

The unlawfulness is defined as an action of a third party that is contrary to the widely understood rules of legal order, i.e. legal regulations and rules of social coexistence.

Trade mark law, case II GSK 247/06

February 21st, 2007, Tomasz Rychlicki

The Supreme Administrative Court in a judgment of 20 February 2007, case file II GSK 247/06, held that one cannot assume in the case of word-figurative trade marks, that the verbal element is the most important because of its ease of memorization and communication. In assessing the similarity of the signs it is necessary to take into account the overall impression the compared signs have made/produced on the recipient/consumer.

The term of Intellectual property

February 15th, 2007, Tomasz Rychlicki

If you were ever wondering about the origin of this a little bit misleading term of “intellectual property”, you probably did some Internet research. The most popular resource is wikipedia.org of course. It will give you some help in this matter. The term “intellectual property” was used for the first time in 1845, by Judge Charles L. Woodbury’s in Davoll v. Brown, 1 Woodb. & M. 53, 3 West.L.J. 151, 7 F.Cas. 197, No. 3662, 2 Robb.Pat.Cas. 303, Merw.Pat.Inv. 414, PDF file.

Only thus can ingenuity and perseverance be encouraged to exert themselves in this way usefully to the community; and only in this way can we protect intellectual property, the labors of the mind, productions and interests as much a man’s own, and as much the fruit of his honest industry, as the wheat he cultivates, or the flocks he rears.

For all of you who are interested in this subject matter I added a link to the full text of this judgment. The case discussed patent law issues. I also edited the wikipedia post. If anynone of you have a copy of A. Nion’s book entitled “Droit civils des auteurs, artistes et inventeurs” I would appreciate if you contact me.