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Archive for: January, 2009

Trade mark law, case III SA/Wr 499/08

January 30th, 2009, Tomasz Rychlicki

The Voivodeship Administrative Court in Wrocław in its judgment of 28 January 2009 case file III SA/Wr 499/08 held that the powers of sanitary authorities include the power to control of foodstuffs also in terms of their marking and labeling. According to article 120 of the Polish Act of 30 June 2000 on Industrial Property Law – IPL – (in Polish: ustawa Prawo własności przemysłowej) of 30 June 2000, published in Journal of Laws (Dziennik Ustaw) of 2001 No 49, item 508, consolidated text of 13 June 2003, Journal of Laws (Dziennik Ustaw) No 119, item 1117, with later amendments, the trade mark is protected as a whole regardless of its composition. So questioning the legality of a trade mark that was made by the State Sanitary Inspection, with the assumption that part of the label of foodstuff is a registered trademark, lead to an unacceptable invasion of the powers reserved by law for the Polish Patent Office. Indeed, such action of SSI would, in fact, “prohibit” the use of a trade mark, while the State Sanitary Inspection cannot encroach on the powers reserved by law for other state authorites.

Article 120
1. Any sign capable of being represented graphically may be considered as trademark, provided that such signs are capable of distinguishing the goods of one undertaking from those of other undertakings.

2. The following, in particular, may be considered as trademarks within the meaning of paragraph (1): words, designs, ornaments, combinations of colours, the three-dimensional shape of goods or of their packaging, as well as melodies or other acoustic signals.

3. Any references in this Act to:
(i ) trademarks shall also mean service marks,
(ii) goods shall mean, in particular, industrial or handicraft goods, agriculture products or natural products, such as, in particular, waters, minerals, raw materials, as well as, subject to Article 174(3), services,
(iii) counterfeit trademarks shall mean identical trademarks illegally used or trademarks which in the course of trade can not be distinguished from the trademarks registered for the goods covered by the right of protection,
(iv) earlier trademarks shall mean the trademarks applied for registration or registered basing on the earlier priority.

A situation where an entrepreneur has advertised tea, using only, image of cannabis-like leaves cannot be considered as advertising of narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances. In this case, it was not a promotion of any other substances prohibited by the law because, there was no name of any specific drug or psychotropic substance. Moreover, this issue goes beyond the competence of the State Sanitary Inspection.

The cassation complaint was rejected by the Supreme Administrative Court in its judgment of 31 May 2010 case file II OSK 832/09.

Polish patent attorneys, case III CZP 118/08

January 29th, 2009, Tomasz Rychlicki

The Supreme Court in its judgment of 23 January 2009 case file III CZP 118/08 held that an advocate, legal advisor or patent attorney who is acting as a substitute representative cannot authenticate a copy of the basic power of attorney that was issued in the name of the primary proxy. The court also ruled that the defect in form of a pleading based on improper form of powers can be removed by a confirmation of a party that issued the primary POA. The court should assign the other party a reasonable time limit for supplementation of a pleading and POA.

Industrial design, case II GSK 612/08

January 28th, 2009, Tomasz Rychlicki

The Supreme Administrative Court in its judgment of 27 January 2009 case file II GSK 612/08 held that the Court cannot deny the legitimacy to submit in the opposition proceedings before the Polish Patent Office, a request for invalidation of a right in industrial design registration, to a person, who was charged with the allegation of committing the offense of assigning to itself the authorship of this exclusive right (plagiarism), if that person alleges and argues that the questioned right was granted in violation and against of legally binding regulations.

This judgment concerned the industrial design “Rozetka pod pieczęć i plastyczną oprawę dokumentów” (in English: Rosette under seal and plastic binding documents), Rp-632. See also “Polish case law on industrial designs“.

Trade mark law, case VI SA/Wa 1601/08

January 28th, 2009, Tomasz Rychlicki

On July 4, 2002 Polish company Aldo sp. z o.o. applied for the right of protection for word-figurative mark ALDO S Z-252456 in classes 6, 19, 35, 37. The services indicated to operating a store and wholesalers with building materials. In 2005, The Polish Patent Office has issued a favourable decision and registered the submitted mark R-169096.

R-169096

German company Aldi Einkauf GmbH has opposed the registration. The opponent based its claims on two registrations. However, only the second of the presented trade marks ALDI R-173352 covered the contested class. This sign was also registered later in 2006 (the trade mark application was filled on June 11, 2002). After finding the opposition justified the The Adjudicative Board of the Polish Patent Office transformed it into the motion to cancel trade mark rights.

However, after parties submitted additional observations and after hearing oral arguments, The Board found that Aldi just started its business on the Polish market and does not offer or sell building materials so far. Aldo’s representative argued that the contested sign differs because of its figurative elements and due to small amount of letters and its ending there is no verbal similarity. Another argument presented that Aldo was using its sign since 1995 and there was no Aldi’s presence on the Polish market at this time. It was also noted that goods and services are aimed at the careful consumer so there is no risk in the association of the origin of such goods. Therefore, the PPO rejected the ALDI’s request in its decision of 26 February 2008 case act signature Sp.148/07. The PPO noted that contested wholesales services are alike but goods sold by Aldo are being offered in special shops where Aldi’s products are available in hipermarkets. The Board also held that both marks are not similar because they differ visually and they sound differently.

The German company filed a complain before the Voivodeship Administrative Court in Warsaw. In its complaint Aldi Einkauf still claimed that the disputed trade mark may lead to association with its brand. The German company alleged that the PPO wrongly assessed similarities. Aldi’s representative argued that the verbal aspect has greater importance in word-figurative trade marks. The letter “S” is separated from the word Aldo. Therefore, this expression will be perceived by the public as a dominant. However, the Voivodeship Administrative Court in Warsaw in its judgment of 11 December 2008 case file VI SA/Wa 1601/08 dismissed Aldi’s complaint. The VAC held that PPO provided a proper and complete assessment of the disputed signs. The Adjudicative Board compared them globally, and also referred to the verbal elements. The difference of even a single letter is a sufficient factor to distinguish these signs, in visual, phonetic and aural perspective — said judge Ewa Marcinkowska, (the rapporteur). The judgment is not final yet. The cassation complaint may be filed before the Supreme Administrative Court.

Personal rights, case II CR 419/89

January 25th, 2009, Tomasz Rychlicki

The Supreme Court in a judgment of 19 October 1989, case file III CR 419/89, published in OSP 1990, book 11-12, p. 377, ruled that the circumstances excluding the unlawfulness of an infringement of personal rights/interests include inter alia actions that are allowed under the law, i.e. an action that is permitted by an applicable legal regulation and an action taken in the defense of a legitimate interest.

Advertising of alcohol products in Poland

January 25th, 2009, Tomasz Rychlicki

Current regulations on alcohol advertisement are included in the Act of 26 October 1982 on upbringing in sobriety and counteracting alcoholism (Polish: Ustawa o wychowaniu w trzezwosci i przeciwdzialaniu alkoholizmowi). There are very important definitions included in article 2.

(2) promotion of alcoholic beverages – a public tasting of alcoholic beverages, free distribution of accessories associated with alcoholic beverages, organising the sale of alcoholic beverages with prize-awarding and contests based on purchase of alcoholic beverages, as well as any other forms of encouraging publicly to purchase alcoholic beverages, excluding competitions based on the purchase of alcoholic beverages,

(3) advertising of alcoholic beverages – the public dissemination of trade marks of alcoholic beverages or graphic symbols related to them, as well as names and graphic symbols of entrepreneurs producing alcoholic beverages not being different from names and symbols of alcoholic beverages, which serve to popularise trade marks of alcoholic beverages; any information used for trade purposes, exchanged between firms engaged in the production of, wholesale trading and retail trading in alcoholic beverages, shall not be deemed to be advertising,

(4) sponsorship – direct or indirect financing or co-finance of the activities of individuals, legal persons or organizational units without legal personality for the dissemination, establishing or enhance the reputation of the name, manufacturer or distributor, the trade mark or other sign to individualise of the entrepreneur, its business, product or service

(5) information on the sponsorship – presenting information that includes the name of the sponsor or his trade mark in connection with the sponsorship.

According to article 13₁ of the Act, Advertising of alcoholic beverages shall be prohibited in Poland, except for beer.

Advertising of which shall be permitted provided that
(1) is not directed at minors,
(2) does not depict minors,
(3) does not combine the consumption of alcohol with fitness, or driving,
(4) does not include claims that alcohol has medicinal properties, is a stimulant, tranquillizer or a means of resolving personal conflicts,
(5) does not encourage the excessive consumption of alcohol,
(6) does not present abstinence or moderate consumption of alcohol in a negative way,
(7) does not highlight the high alcoholic content as being a positive quality of alcoholic beverage,
(8) does not have associations with (a) sexual attractiveness, (b) relaxation or recreation, (c) study or work, (d) success or professional life.

2. Advertising and promotion of beer, referred to in paragraph 1 can not be pursued:
(1) in television, radio, cinema and theater hours between 6am and 8pm, with the exception of the advertising provided by the organizer of professional sports in the course of this event;
(2) on video cassettes and other media;
(3) in the press for young people and children;
(4) on the covers of newspapers and magazines;
(5) on advertising posts and billboards and other fixed and movable surfaces used for advertising, except that 20% of the advertising surface will placed with visible and legible inscription indicating about the harmful use of alcohol or to ban of the sale of alcohol to minors;
(6) with the participation of minors.

The Polish Ministry of Health wants to limit the advertising of beer. According to the proposal, the advertising and promotion of beer can not be pursued in TV, radio, cinema and theatres between 6am and 11pm. There is also important news related to the Euro 2012 championships: fans at stadiums will not be allowed to buy drinks with an alcohol content of over 4.5%.

Categories: advertising law | alcohol advertising | Polish law.

Advertising of pharmaceuticals, case II CSK 289/07

January 24th, 2009, Tomasz Rychlicki

According to one of the older judgments of the of the Supreme Court – Civil Chamber of 2 October 2007, case file II CSK 289/07, published in the Jurisprudence of the Supreme Court, the Civil Chamber (in Polish: Orzecznictwo Sądu Najwyższego Izba Cywilna) of 2008, No 12, item 140, p. 54, a public advertisement of promotional prices (price cuts) of drugs that is made by comparing these reduced prices with the higher prices, suggesting periodic drug sales at a lower price, is a prohibited public advertising of medicines as referred to in article 57(1)(i) and (iii) of the Polish Act on Pharmaceutical Law – PHL – (in Polish: ustawa prawo farmaceutyczne) of 6 September 2001, published in Journal of Laws (Dziennik Ustaw) of 2008, No 45, item 271, with subsequent amendments.

1. Advertising of the following medicinal products, addressed to the general public, shall be prohibited:
i) dispensed exclusively on doctor’s prescription
(…)
iii) included, according to separate regulations, on the lists of the reimbursable medicines and authorized for issuing without prescription, with the proper name identical with the name mentioned on these lists.

It is also the act of unfair competition as provided in article 16(1)(i) of the Act of 16 April 1993 on Combating Unfair Competition – CUC – (in Polish: ustawa o zwalczaniu nieuczciwej konkurencji), Journal of Laws (Dziennik Ustaw) No 47, item 211, with subsequent amendments.

In the field of advertising the act of unfair competition shall be, in particular, the following:
1) advertising contrary to provisions of the law, good practices or offending human dignity,

The Court ruled that assessment whether advertising can be deemed as misleading should refer to the model of the average recipient of this kind of advertising – the consumer of advertised products or services.

In this case, it was the average consumer of pharmaceuticals, to which advertising newspapers and leaflets were directed. As the Supreme Court noted in its judgment of 3 December 2003, case file I CK 358/02, the model of the average consumer, who is reasonably well informed and reasonably observant and circumspect, is now used widely adopted in the Republic of Poland as it is in the European Union.

However, the model of an average consumer could not be defined and considered in isolation from the conditions of this specific case and the realities concerning recipients of specific products to which the advertising is directed. Therefore, one could not ignore the fact that such consumers are often very ill persons, often with reduced capacity of perception and limited ability of reasonable and critical evaluation, as well as they are often elderly, which is also a significant group of consumers of medicines. These are typically the person more susceptible to suggestion and less critical. These people are targeted by pharmaceutical advertising and, while assessing the possibility of confusion, the characteristics of this kind of audience should be taken into account as a model of the average consumer.

Trade mark law, case VI SA/Wa 1620/08

January 22nd, 2009, Tomasz Rychlicki

On 22 January 2003 the Spanish company Aceites del Sur-Soosur, S.A. applied to the Polish Patent Office to register the word trade mark LA ESPANOLA Z-260063 in class 29 for goods such as edible oils and fats. The PPO rejected this trade mark application, justifying its decision case file DT-51/08 on the basis of Article 129(1)(ii) and Article 129(2)(ii) of the Polish Act of 30 June 2000 on Industrial Property Law – IPL – (in Polish: ustawa Prawo własności przemysłowej) of 30 June 2000, published in Journal of Laws (Dziennik Ustaw) of 2001 No 49, item 508, consolidated text of 13 June 2003, Journal of Laws (Dziennik Ustaw) No 119, item 1117, with subsequent amendments.

1. Rights of protection shall not be granted for signs which:
(ii) are devoid of sufficient distinctive character

Article 129(2)(ii)
2. Subject to Article 130, the following shall be considered as being devoid of sufficient distinctive character:
(ii) signs which consist exclusively or mainly of elements which may serve, in trade, to designate the kind, origin, quality, quantity, value, intended purpose, manufacturing process, composition, function or usefulness of the goods.

The representative of the Spanish company claimed that Aceites del Sur-Soosur had a long tradition in the production of such goods and is well-known in many countries, and that there is also a CTM registration for the word-figurative trade mark LA ESPANOLA CTM no. 000132092, however, the PPO found that the sign indicated the word origin of goods from Spain. In its original language it means “the Spanish” or “Spain”. And in PPO’s opinion Spain is also famous for production of goods of this type, such as oils.

Aceites del Sur-Soosur filed a complaint before the Voivodeship Administrative Court in Warsaw but the VAC in its judgment of 18 November 2008, case file VI SA/Wa 1620/08 fully agreed with the Polish Patent Office and stressed the fact that such sign, while presented without any graphic element, has purely-for-information status, which points to the place of origin of goods imported from Spain. This decision is not yet final.

Protection of traditional nourishment in Poland

January 22nd, 2009, Tomasz Rychlicki

On 5 January 2009 recent amendments of the Act of 17 December 2004 on registration and protection of agricultural names and products, foodstuff and traditional products (in Polish: ustawa o rejestracji i ochronie nazw i oznaczen produktów rolnych i srodków spozywczych oraz o produktach tradycyjnych), published in Journal of Laws (Dziennik Ustaw) No 10, item 68, with subsequent amendments, came into force. A product is now deemed to be a traditional food only if it is associated with the culture and traditions of Poland and its communities. The method of production is considered as traditional if it was used for at least 25 years.

According to article 22a of the Act, at the national level, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development after consultation with the Council for the Traditional and Regional Names of Agricultural Products and Foodstuffs may set the adjustment period to continue to use the name for the entity which has made a reservation for someone else’s application for the registration of protected designations of origin or geographical indications. Such a situation is only possible if the entity has brought its products to the market in accordance with the law and continues to use the name for a minimum of five years.

Categories: Polish law.

Trade mark law, case Sp. 451/07

January 22nd, 2009, Tomasz Rychlicki

On 1 April 2003, the Polish company Scooter sp. z o.o. from Bytom applied to the Polish Patent Office for the word-figurative trade mark CITY ROCK Z-262984 for goods and services in classes 9, 12, 21, 24, 25, 35, 36, 40, 41, 42, 43. After almost three years, the PPO granted the right for protection R-173752 in its decision of 6 March 2006.

R-173752

Hard Rock Holdings Limited from the UK filed a request for invalidation of the right of protection based on provisions included in article 131(2)(i) of the Polish Act of 30 June 2000 on Industrial Property Law – IPL – (in Polish: ustawa Prawo własności przemysłowej) of 30 June 2000, published in Journal of Laws (Dziennik Ustaw) of 2001 No 49, item 508, consolidated text of 13 June 2003, Journal of Laws (Dziennik Ustaw) No 119, item 1117, with subsequent amendments.

2. A right of protection shall not be granted for a sign, if:
(i) it has been applied for protection with the Patent Office in bad faith,
and article 132(2)(ii):
2. A right of protection for a trade mark shall not be granted, if the trade mark:
(ii) is identical or similar to a trade mark for which a right of protection was granted or which has been applied for protection with an earlier priority date (provided that the latter is subsequently granted a right of protection) on behalf of another party for identical or similar goods, if a risk of misleading the public exists, in particular by evoking associations with the earlier mark,

The request for invalidation was limited by the UK company to goods in classes 9, 25, 41 and 43. Hard Rock Holdings provided earlier trade mark registrations HARD ROCK CAFE R-97170, Hard Rock CAFE R-126149, Hard Rock CAFE R-140353. The company claimed that there existed visual, aural and conceptual similarity between the disputed signs which might lead to consumers to confusion. Hard Rock Holdings argued that HARD ROCK CAFE trade marks had a reputation and were used as a cult brand for restaurants in many countries. The president of the Polish company, acting without a professional representative, claimed that the signs were not similar.

The Polish Patent Office dismissed the request in its decision of 6 November 2008 act signature Sp. 451/07. According to the PPO, there was no risk of confusion between the trade marks. The PPO also stressed the fact that the word “rock” cannot be proprietarized by one entrepreneur because it indicates the genre of music. As regards the reputation, the PPO said that it is difficult to talk about HARD ROCK CAFE’s reputation because it has been present in Poland since 2007 an,d for the time being, only in Warsaw, while the contested trade mark was applied for much earlier, in 2003.

Trade mark law, case Sp. 27/06

January 19th, 2009, Tomasz Rychlicki

On 9 February 2000, the Polish Patent Office granted the right of protection for the word trade mark PICKENPACK R-118206 applied for on 27 September 1996, the Polish entrepreneur Katarzyna Warzocha from Koniecpol, for goods in classes 29 and 30 such as frozen meat products, fish, poultry and game, frozen fruits and vegetables and frozen flour products.

R-118206

German company Pickenpack-Hussmann & Hahn Seafood GmbH from Lüneburg owned an international registration for the word-figurative trade mark PICKEN PACK IR-520553 in class 29 for goods such as meat, fish, poultry and game as well as cooked fruit and vegetables, cooked take-away dishes mainly consisting of meat, fish, potatoes and/or other vegetables; all these goods are deep frozen. The registration was granted in the Republic of Poland on October 2008. German company filed before the Polish Patent Office a request to declare the lapse of trade mark protection based on provision of article 169(1)(i) of the Polish Act of 30 June 2000 on Industrial Property Law – IPL – (in Polish: ustawa Prawo własności przemysłowej) of 30 June 2000, published in Journal of Laws (Dziennik Ustaw) of 2001 No 49, item 508, consolidated text of 13 June 2003, Journal of Laws (Dziennik Ustaw) No 119, item 1117, with subsequent amendments.

1. The right of protection for a trademark shall also lapse:
(i) on failure to put to genuine use of the registered trade mark for the goods covered by the registration for a period of five successive years after a decision on the grant of a right of protection has been taken, unless serious reasons for its non-use exist,

Katarzyna Warzocha argued that she started to use the contested trade mark in the previous two years during talks with contractors interested in her offer. She provided information that the PICKENPACK trade mark had been used for frozen products, advertising flyers, business cards and offers of cooperation. Katarzyna Warzocha claimed that the goods labelled with this trade mark were present at the Polagra fair in the years 2001-2005. She also declared that she was able to provide statements of companies, which took supplies of frozen products poduced by her company. German company argued that this was not real evidence of actual use. On 6 November 2008, the PPO postponed the hearing in this case act signature Sp. 27/06 to supplement the evidence.

Trade mark law, case II GSK 251/08

January 18th, 2009, Tomasz Rychlicki

The Supreme Administrative court in its judgment of 24 June 2008 case file II GSK 251/08 ruled that due to the fact that the trade mark MILKA that was invoked against the trade mark MIKLA R-148766 registered for goods in Classes 12 and 30, is a word trade mark, its use can manifest itself in a way that was chosen by the owner, which means that the holder may impose it on goods but not in any contradiction of the conditions afforded by the right of protection. The trade mark holder may, therefore, by marking the goods for which the sign received protection, to use a word trade mark by incorporating it in other registered trade mark, or to join it with the elements known and belonging to other sign.

Trade mark law, case

January 17th, 2009, Tomasz Rychlicki

The Polish company Arenda Biuro Obrotu Nieruchomosci from Warsaw filed before the Polish Patent Office a request for invalidation of the right of protection of the trade mark ARENDA WOJCIECHOWSCY R-178655, which was registered in classes 35, 36, 37 and 42. The company from Warsaw claimed that there was a risk of confusion between the trade mark ARENDA WOJCIECHOWSCY and the trade mark ARENDA R-94766, which was applied for with an earlier priority on 3 November 1994 and registered on 27 March 1997 for services in class 36 for real estate agency and brokerage.

R-178655

ARENDA S.C. from Czestochowa argued that claims based on article 132(2)(ii) of the IPL were unfounded because an assessment of the overall impression excludes the risk of confusion as regards the disputed trade marks

2. A right of protection for a trade mark shall not be granted, if the trade mark:
(ii) is identical or similar to a trade mark for which a right of protection was granted or which has been applied for protection with an earlier priority date (provided that the latter is subsequently granted a right of protection) on behalf of another party for identical or similar goods, if a risk of misleading the public exists, in particular by evoking association with the earlier mark,

The company argued that both signs have different graphics, which clearly distinguishes them. Another argument was that the PPO had already registered six different trade marks with the ARENDA element.

R-94766

Despite the fact that, in the Polish language, “arenda” formely meant “lease” or “tenancy”, the PPO had invalidated the right of protection for a trade mark in part – in class 36 in its decision of 27 October 2008 act signature Sp. 487/07.

Trade mark law, case I ACa 1047

January 15th, 2009, Tomasz Rychlicki

The Appellate Court in Wrocław in its judgment of 30 December 2008 case file I ACa 1047 published in LEX under the no. 519268, held that descriptive signs which present information about the goods, its characteristics, not its origin from the designated entrepreneur, lacks distinctive character. The descriptive elements may be one of the components of the trade mark, such as fitting of a particular word or symbol indicating a characteristic of the goods. Then the sign is assessed as a whole and not only through the prism of one component – a descriptive word, but also other accompanying elements. To acquire the distinctive character, all the symbols (signs) used in the course of trade as a descriptive trade marks, must also include a word which would develop in the collective consciousness of the consumers of the product a clear association between the sign and a product, distinguishing it as originating from a given entrepreneur.

Categories: acquired distinctiveness | distinctive character | Polish Appeallate Court.

Product information, case VI SA/Wa 2119/08

January 15th, 2009, Tomasz Rychlicki

The Voivodeship Administrative Court in Warsaw in its judgment case file VI SA/Wa 2119/08 ruled on products information and labelling. The Polish company BIZ from Swiebodzice appealed the decision of the Trade Inspection ordering it to change information placed on products (tiles) that were imported form Spain where all descriptions were only available in Spanish. The Company claimed that it presents its clients with all information needed in Polish language during sales. However, the Court ruled that according to article 3(1) and 6 of the Act of 27 July 2002 on specific terms and conditions of consumer sale and amendments to the Civil Code (in Polish: Ustawa o szczególnych warunkach sprzedazy konsumenckiej oraz o zmianie Kodeksu cywilnego) published in Journal of Laws (Dziennik Ustaw) no 141 item 1176, all information should be provided in given conditions.

1. The seller selling his products in the Republic of Poland shall provide clear, understandable, not misleading information in Polish, necessary for proper and full use of the consumer good sold. In particular, the following information shall be provided: name of the product, description of the manufacturer or importer and country of origin of the product, safety label and kite mark required by separate provisions, information whether the product is approved for general sale in the Republic of Poland, as well as, according to the type of the product, specification of energy consumption and other data mentioned in separate provisions.
(…)
6. The information or documents referred to in paragraphs 1 and 5, should be drawn up in the Polish language, or, if the type of information allows it, in a comprehensible form. The requirement to use the Polish language does not apply to names, trademarks, trade names, indications of origin and customarily used scientific and technical terminology.

The seller is explicitly required to provide information, sufficient for the proper and full use of the goods sold. Such information should be in Polish language or in a comprehensible graphic form and placing a substitute of product’s information in the form of the European standards is not enough, because it will be only legible for oriented, but not the average consumers.

Categories: consumer protection law | Polish courts | Voivodeship Administrative Court.

Trade mark law, case VI SA/Wa 1388/07

January 15th, 2009, Tomasz Rychlicki

On 11 May 2004, the Polish Patent Office issued a positive decision on the registration of EAU DE TOKYO R-153843 trade mark for goods in Class 3. It was applied for by the MGT Parfum Création from Hofheim-Wallau on 7 September 2000.

R-153843

Kenzo Societe Anonyme from France filed a request for invalidation of the right of protection claiming it was granted in violation of the provisions of Articles 8(1) and 9(1)(i) of the old Polish Act of 31 January 1985 on Trade Marks – TMA – (in Polish: Ustawa o znakach towarowych), published in Journal of Laws (Dziennik Ustaw) No 5, item 15, with subsequent amendments.

Article 8
A trade mark shall not be registrable if:
(i) it is contrary to law or to the principles of social coexistence;

Article 9
(1) Registration of a trade mark for goods of the same kind shall not be permissible where:
i) it resembles a mark registered on behalf of another enterprise to such an extent that it could mislead purchasers as to the origin of the goods in ordinary economic activity;

The request had to be based on the old Act because the trade mark application was filed while the old act was in force. KENZO was claiming the similarity of marks, KENZO TOKYO BY KENZO R-207663 and TOKYO BY KENZO R-207662 and their reputation. The French company has also argued that the German company imposes its trade mark on similar bottles to Kenzo’s bottles. On February 2007, the PPO rejected the invalidation request and KENZO has appealed this decision.

R-153843-3D

The German company did not respond to the correspondence on this matter and no other address was known. During earlier hearings on July 2008, the Voivodeship Administrative Court in Warsaw had to ask the President Polish Chamber of Patent Attorneys to designate a curator for the German company. The curator did not agree with KENZO arguments. He pointed that the assessment had to be a comparison of the signs as they were registered, and not the packaging.

The Voivodeship Administrative Court in Warsaw in its judgment of 27 November 2008 case file VI SA/Wa 1388/07 dismissed the complaint. The Court acknowledged the fact that the PPO did not negate the reputation of KENZO trade marks. According to the VAC, the PPO was not obliged to take into account KENZO’s reputation, since the Office found that the disputed signs were not similar. The Court did not agree with the argument that these signs had similar associations because cosmetics marked by them come from Japan. According to Judge Olga Żurawska-Matusiak such conclusion would be too far-reaching. She also pointed that the PPO has properly assessed both trade marks. The issue of passing off of packages should be decided by a civil court in a different proceedings.

Press law, case II K 367/08

January 14th, 2009, Tomasz Rychlicki

The Regional Court in Słupsk in its judgment of 16 December 2008, case file II K 367/08 acquitted Leszek Szymczak from charges of publishing press material featuring criminal content that publicly incited its readers to commit offences. This case concerned posts that were published at the online forum of http://gazetabytowska.pl website (also accessible at http://gby.pl), which – according to the Public Prosecutor’s Office – included incitement to commit crime. Charges were based on Article 49a of the Polish Act of 26 January 1984 on Press law – APL – (in Polish: ustawa Prawo prasowe), published in Journal of Laws (Dziennik Ustaw) No 5, item 24, with subsequent amendments.

An editor who unintentionally published press material that featured criminal content mentioned in article 37a hereof, shall be subject to a fine penalty or the restriction of liberty.

In connection with the provisions of Article 255 of the Polish Criminal Code – CRC – (in Polish: Kodeks Karny) of 6 June 1997, published in Journal of Laws (Dziennik Ustaw) No 88, item 553, with subsequent amendments.

1. A person who publicly calls for committing an offence of a fiscal crime shall be subject to a fine penalty, the restriction of liberty or imprisonment for up to two years.
2. A person who publicly calls for committing a crime shall be subject to the restriction of liberty for up to three years.
3. A person who publicly praises the commitment of a crime shall be subject to a fine penalty amounting to up to 180 daily rates, the restriction of liberty or imprisonment for up to one year.

The Court ruled that according to the provisions of Polish Press Law, Leszek Szymczak is the publisher and the editor, however the entries that were posted by visitors of his website did not constitute a press material. The appeal brought by the Prosecutor Office was rejected. See “Press law, case VI Ka 202/09“.

See also “Press law, case VI Ka 409/07” and “Press law, case IV KK 174/07“.

Press law, case VI Ka 409/07

January 14th, 2009, Tomasz Rychlicki

Facts and legal dispute
A Polish TV channel, TVN, in its show entitled UWAGA broadcast footage that criticised the work of a debt collector, Wojciech D., who held office in a Pomeranian town of Bytów. Internauts were prompt to comment on his work. This boiled down mostly to offensive statements, some of which are provided below:

I suggest we lynch the guy, if legal methods failed. It seems that we’ll have to fight impudence with impudence! Citizens!!! This goes out to you.

How about we settled it ourselves, people? We could take him to the woods, take away his clothes and throw him out onto the streets, that would be fun!!!

I was lucky enough not to have anything to do with this guy. I am surprised with those, who had so much trouble with him, though. If he sold my apartment or broke my mum’s hand I would spare some change and call the boys from the hood. They would have known what to do with him ;)

Hang the collector by the balls in the centre of the town, shove a pound or two of drawing pins and broken glass into his ass, but on the other hand he might enjoy that … and let him see what suffering is … the struggle continues….

Fill him with carbide and add some water. Oh, that would be so nice for him, damn bureaucrat. When he fills up with gasses, light him up. A nice effect, only shreds would remain. Still, it’s just wishful thinking, he can be seen no-where around the town. We can’t get him.

The comments were published mainly on the GazetaBytowska. pl (Bytów Newspaper) website, also accessible at gby.pl. The authorities (police and prosecutor) addressed Leszek Szymczak, the administrator of the website, and asked him to hand over particulars of the commentators. The authorities intended to charge those persons with punishable threats addressed at the collector. Leszek Szymczak did not, however, provide the data. The police called the comments “press material” and the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Bytów recognised that the administrator of the website was responsible for the comments published on the gby.pl forum. The Public Prosecutor’s Office also maintained that a website is a daily newspaper, by virtue of which under the press law it needed to be registered. Following the line of reasoning of the prosecutor, Leszek Szymczak ran the gby.pl website (i.e. he published a daily newspaper) without proper registration. The prosecution charged Mr Szymczak with the first accusation – the infringement of Article 45 of the Polish Act of 26 January 1984 on Press law² – APL – (in Polish: ustawa Prawo prasowe), published in Journal of Laws (Dziennik Ustaw) No 5, item 24, with subsequent amendmets.

Anybody who publishes a daily newspaper or a periodical without registration or with registration suspended is subject to a fine penalty or the restriction of liberty

This was made in connection with article 7(2) pt. 2 of the APL.

A daily is a general-information periodical print or a message transmitted via sound or sound and image published more frequently than once a week.

The manner of registration of dailies and periodicals is provided in Article 20 of the APL.

1. Publishing a daily newspaper or a periodical necessitates registration with a voivodeship court having jurisdiction in the seat of the publisher, hereinafter referred to as ‘the registrar body’. In such cases the regulations of the Code of Civil Procedure on nonlitigious proceedings, together with amendments resulting herefrom, shall apply.
2. A registration application mentioned in section 1 hereof shall include:
1) the title of a daily newspaper or a periodical together with the seat and an exact address of the editorial office,
2) particulars of the editor-in-chief,
3) specification, seat and exact address of the publisher,
4) the daily newspaper’s or the periodical’s frequency of publishing.
3. A registrar court shall substantiate the decision to register a daily newspaper of a periodical only upon a motion.
4. A daily newspaper or a periodical can be published if a registrar body failed to decide upon the application for the registration within 30 days from the day of the submission of the application.
5. Should the information mentioned in section 2 hereof be altered, the registration body shall be immediately noticed.

The prosecution also alleged that Leszek Szymczak published press material featuring criminal content that publicly incited its readers to commit offences. For that reason the prosecution pressed the second charge. Under article 49a of the APL

An editor who unintentionally published press material that featured criminal content mentioned in article 37a hereof, shall be subject to a fine penalty or the restriction of liberty.

Under Article 255 of the Criminal Code³ – CRC – (in Polish: Kodeks Karny) of 6 June 1997, published in Journal of Laws (Dziennik Ustaw) No 88, item 553, with subsequent amendments

1. A person who publicly calls for committing an offence of a fiscal crime shall be subject to a fine penalty, the restriction of liberty or imprisonment for up to two years.
2. A person who publicly calls for committing a crime shall be subject to the restriction of liberty for up to three years.
3. A person who publicly praises the commitment of a crime shall be subject to a fine penalty amounting to up to 180 daily rates, the restriction of liberty or imprisonment for up to one year.

Article 37a of the APL reads

If a person is sentenced for a crime committed by publishing a press material, the court may adjudicate an additional penalty constituting in the forfeiture of the press material.

The prosecution maintained that Leszek Szymczak committed the crime of the nonfeasance of duties. The prosecution did not, however, establish what actually was meant by lynching, or at whom the comments were directed (the collector’s name was not even once mentioned on the gby.pl website).
It is noteworthy that Leszek Szymczak had registered a daily newspaper entitled Gazeta Bytowska when it was published in print⁴. In the period pointed at in the indictment, that is from April 13, 2004 to January 9, 2006, the court did not pass a decision that would make the registration invalid.

The Regional Court Słupsk in its judgment of 7 March 2007 case file II K 342/06 (with Judge Tadeusz Stodoła presiding) held that the first charge was legitimate, but owing to the minor social harm it remitted proceedings in the case. As for the second charge, the court held that posts of an internet forum indeed constitute press material and as such should be revised by editors and if they encounter inappropriate material, they should delete it. The court failed, however, to point to a specific law regulation that would necessitate Leszek Szymczak to delete any posts from his forum. Also this charge was dismissed. The court focused on the interpretation of the notion of “press material” and in this venture interpreted it correctly. The rub, though, remains in the fact that in this case the utmost importance should have been attached to the interpretation of the notions of a “daily newspaper” and a “periodical” since only those two kinds of press need to be registered with a court. Both parties appealed Leszek Szymczak appealed to overrule the judgment and dismiss the charge punishable under article 45 of the APL. He substantiated his appeal with, first of all, Article 17(1)2 of the Criminal Proceedings Code owing to the fact that under the law in effect publishers did not have to register websites in the register of daily newspapers and periodicals. Secondly, he also claimed that the regulations that impose such an obligation are too unclear to be a source of criminal liability according to the principle nulla poena sine lege certa et stricta (no punishment unless there is certain and strict law). Leszek Szymczak also appealed to change the sentence by acquitting the defendant from the offence provided in article 49a of the PLA owing to the fact that the defendant did not know about the illegal nature of the information (posts were uploaded/written by internauts) that the prosecution drew upon in the offence description. Because of that, his argument continued, the defendant could not be criminally liable, that is under Article 14(1) of the Polish Act of 18 July 2002 on Providing Services by Electronic Means – PSEM – (in Polish: ustwa o świadczeniu usług droga elektroniczną), published in Journal of Laws (Dziennik Ustaw) No. 144, item. 1204 with subsequent amendments, and Article 14 of the Directive 2000/31/EC⁶. Leszek Szymczak also appealed to completely overrule the abovementioned sentence and send the case back to the court of first instance for reconsideration.

The prosecution appealed against the judgment on the grounds of a mistake in factual findings that formed the basis for the judgment. It argued that the court was wrong to assess the social harm of the offence described in article 45 of the APL as minor (publishing an internet daily newspaper gby.pl without proper registration) and to discontinue proceedings with respect to this charge. Still further, a correct analysis of the subjective and objective features of the offence, particularly the legal interests undermined by the offence and the conduct of the defendant, all lead to other conclusions, the prosecution reasoned. The prosecution also maintained that the court made another mistake in the factual findings forming the basis for the decision. The court allegedly was wrong to assess the social harm of the offence described in article 49a of the APL as minor (unintentional publishing of press material with criminal content) and to discontinue proceedings with respect to this charge. A correct analysis of both subjective and objective features of the offence, including legal interests undermined by the offence and negative consequences experienced by the aggrieved party, especially in the party’s life and professional situation, the gravity and manner of the violation of obligations resting with the defendant, including the considerable time period of publication of the criminal content on the gazetabytowska.pl website and the conduct of the defendant after having acquainted himself with the content, all lead to the conclusion that social harm of the acts performed by the defendant cannot be described as minor, the reasoning continued.

The District Court in Słupsk asked the Prosecutor’s Office to delegate to the court the case of posts published on the website. The court observed that when the Prosecutor’s Office asked the administrator of the website to hand over information about the posts of possibly criminal nature, he indeed handed it over. Afterwards the Office discontinued the proceedings–having found no features of a prohibited act–but then pressed charges and indicted the editor.

The District Court in Słupsk in its judgment of 7 February 2008 case file VI Ka 409/07 held that managing an internet website necessitates registration. In consequence, running a website without registration violates the law. The court held that the reasoning of the Regional Court was correct and, similarly to the Regional Court, it discontinued the proceedings (at the same time ascertaining that the act had caused minor social harm). If it was not for that decision of the court, taking the face value of those sentences, anybody could be put on trial for running a website without registration. In this part the case ends with a discontinuance of the case for a year. The District Court in its decision on appeal made some controversial statements. In particular, the court decided that publishing information on the internet with the use of sound and image depends on the publisher, so any soundless publication still complies with the definition of a daily newspaper/a periodical. As concerns the second charge, the District Court overruled the former sentence and delegated the case for another hearing to the Regional Court. Following gby.pl, the court stated that a web portal, as a press title, needs to be registered: the District Court also suggested that

in a subsequent examination of the indictment, the Court should entertain upon sending case files back for pretrial proceedings due to its considerable shortcomings.

This might mean (the Regional Court still has to determine it) that the posted messages (posts) published on the forum might not have constituted an offence.

Discussion
If we go as far as to admit that in the light of the definition provided in Article 7(2) pt. 1 of the APL a website (such as gby.pl) is indeed “press”, considerable doubts still remain whether such a website is a “daily newspaper” or a “periodical”. Both definitions refer to the notion of “print” but also go further to encompass more media by providing that is might convey “sound or sound an image information”. Owing to the general lack of sound in internet websites, it is hard to deny that this regulation does not describe such a publishing medium. Article 7(2)(2) of the APL provides

1) press shall be defined as periodical publications that do not form a single and complete whole, are published at least once a year and bear a constant title or a name, a number and a date, in particular: daily newspapers and periodicals, news agencies bulletins, constant telex messages, bulletins, radio and television broadcasts, film chronicles; press shall also be understood as any and all existing and emerging in the course of technological advancement means of mass media, including broadcasting stations and television and radio broadcasting systems installed in facilities that distribute periodically publications via print, image, sound or any other broadcasting means; the press shall also encompass teams of people and individuals that deal with journalism,
2) a daily newspaper shall be a general-information periodical print or a sound or sound and vision message published more frequently than once a week,
3) a periodical shall be a periodical print published at least once a year but not more frequently than once a week; this regulation shall apply also to messages broadcast by means of sound or sound and vision and any other means than those described in section 2.

Similar Polish case law
Let us turn to Polish judicature concerning similar cases. The Appellate Court in Rzeszów ruled that an internet website cannot be recognised as a “daily newspaper” or a “periodical” as understood by the APL⁷. In another case, the Appellate Court in Warsaw recognised a teletext service not as a daily newspaper but as a text message as understood by article 4(9) of the Polish Act of 29 December 1992 on Broadcasting⁸ – LOB – (in Polish: Ustawa o radiofonii i telewizji), published in Journal of Law (Dziennik Ustaw) of 1993, No 7 item 34, consolidated text of 19 Novemver 2004, published in Journal of Laws (Dziennik Ustaw) No 253 item 2531, with subsequent amendments. The press law provides the definition of “press material”. Article 7(2)4 of the Act reads

press material shall be any informative, journalistic, documental or other text or image already published or provided to the publisher and intended for publication in press, irrespective of the means of transmission, type, form, destination or authorship of the material.

The decision of the Supreme Court the criminal Chamber of 28 September 2000⁹ in the case of “traditional media” reads as follows

reader’s letters constitute press material as understood by Article 7 (2) 4 of the Act of 26 January 1984 on Press Law (Dz. U. 1984 No. 5 pt. 24 as amended) under the condition that the letters have been sent to the editorial office with the intention to be published. The editor-in-chief is responsible for their publication. A reader’s letter can be, therefore, published after the information contained in the letter has been cautiously and diligently verified as provided for by article 12 (1) of the Press Law. Publishing a reader’s letter does not constitute quotation of another individual’s statement. In view of that the editor-in-chief is still responsible for its publication.

The Supreme Court’s (Customs Chamber’s) decision of December 7, 1993¹⁰ reads as follows:

Article 24 (1) together with article 23 of the Criminal Code and article 37 of the Press Law of 26 January 2984 provide the basis for a non-property claim of the violation of personal interests in a press material. The claim may be filed against a publisher.

The authors also need to mention that the Republic of Poland is a civil law country and there are no binding precedents. Also, the Supreme Court’s resolution is only binding for the court that referred with a specific question but in practice Polish courts often apply rules that were interpreted by the Supreme Court.

Different European jurisdictions
The decision¹¹ of the Appellate Court in Berlin (Landgericht) of May 31, 2007 is an apt example of a similar case in German jurisdiction. The case revolved around the responsibility of a moderator of a website for posts made by third persons and the theory of the so-called “impartial internaut”. The court held that a moderator of an online portal is burdened with no general obligation to review (oversee) posts uploaded by third parties. The case involved a dispute between the administrator of the meinprof.de portal, a website used to evaluate professors of colleges and universities, and one of the evaluated professors who was dubbed on meinprof.de a “psycho” and “the bottom one”. Even though the moderator, having received a notice, did remove the posts, the professor filed a complaint with the court. The court held, however, that in this case the posts boiled down merely to airing one’s opinion. The justification of the ruling reads as follows

Under the press law, any publisher Verbreiter can be seen as an offender (Prinz/Peters, Medienrecht, 1999, Rn, 35). The publisher is anybody who, as in this case, contributes to the distribution of a statement. (BGH NJW 1986, 2503 (2504)–Ostkontakte).

Any third parties that (having been viewed objectively) by their actions support (financially) illegal actions that infringe legally protected interests cannot be liable for the infringement in civil cases. The condition for actual liability as an offender is the default of the obligation of review and control. The specific circumstances of a given case should decide if and to what extent the control is or might be compulsory. The decision should also depend on the determination of the function and tasks of the person charged with infringement and that person’s responsibility. The defendant, being an administrator of a platform for exchanging views, did not infringe the obligation of such review/control. Individuals who administrate online portals do not have to control all their content. Owing to the immense amount of content, such control would be unfeasible¹².

Even the condition that in the rules of the website the defendant did reserve the right to delete illegal posts does not lead, contrarily to the assertions of the plaintiff, to the recognition of a general obligation to control content. Content control is obligatory only when a person, the personal interests of whom have been violated, brings an accusation in the form of a written notice. The notice should contain a detailed description of the violated personal interests with respect to a specific part of the content. In such a case the administrator of a portal does not have to conduct extensive searches at high personal and technological expense. The administrator will only have to check if the post that the accusation concerns can be described (from the perspective of an objective internaut) as conforming with the law. The defendant, dissimilarly to the administrator of a portal in the case decided upon by the BGH that the plaintiff evoked, did not violate the obligation of control. The administrator of the portal, upon the reception of a message from the plaintiff that centred upon the slanderous post, immediately deleted the post from the forum¹³.

No crime where there are doubts
In the Polish law, the regulations of the Act on Providing Services by Electronic Means, for example Article 14(1), provide that

A person who gives access to the contents of a network IT system to a customer, where the customer stores data, is not aware of the illegal features of the data or activity connected with the data and upon receiving an official notification or credible information about the illegal features of the data or activity connected with it, immediately bars access to the data, shall not be responsible for the data.

Chapter 3 of the PSEM, entitled “Exemption of responsibility of the service provider for providing E-services”, includes, as the title itself suggests, a number of other exemptions. The chapter concludes with a regulation in article 15 that reads

Any company that renders services described in article 12-14 shall not be required to verify the data described in article 12-14 that is transmitted, stored or made available by that company.

Having reviewed the above regulations, it seems there are two that actually collide with each other–one from the PL and the other from the PSEM. The modus operandi should be drawn entirely from provisions of the law. Having determined it, only now can we turn to the analysis of regulations such as, for example, article 25(4) of the APL, which reads

The editor-in-chief shall bear the responsibility for the content of the material prepared by the editorial team and the organizational and financial issues of the company within the frames set up in the articles of association or relevant regulations. The editor-in-chief is also responsible for safeguarding linguistic correctness of press materials and counteracting their vulgarization.

Another article of the APL, already mentioned above, article 54b (included in Chapter 8, “Proceedings in press cases”) reads

Provisions on legal responsibility and proceedings in press cases shall be applied to the infringement of law connected with the transmission of human thought via means designed to distribute information, irrespectively of the technology of transmission, especially nonperiodical publications and other print, vision and sound products, other that press.

All criminal cases should be decided on in the scope of the principle nullum crimen sine lege (no crime without a law). The aforementioned cases are indeed riddled with doubts. The authors can hardly adhere to the claim that this clause might mean legal liability for the lack of registration of press other than a “daily newspaper” or a “periodical”, also because of the fact that the regulation covers mass media other than the press. In the authors’ opinion, the gby.pl website can be recognised as “press” but is neither a “daily newspaper” nor a “periodical”.

The legal basis is Article 414 of the Criminal Proceedings Code.

1. After the court proceedings have been instigated, if circumstances precluding prosecution or information substantiating conditional discontinuance of the proceedings are recognized, the court may decide to discontinue the proceedings or discontinue the proceedings conditionally. However, if circumstances provided in article 17(1) 1 and 2 are recognized, the court may issue an acquitting judgement, unless the offender at the time of the offence was non compos mentis

and article 66 (with subsequent ones) of the Criminal Code

The court may conditionally discontinue penal proceedings if the guilt and social harm of the illegal act are nor considerable, circumstances of the act are doubtless and the attitude of the offender that has not been punished for an intentional crime, the offender’s personal conditions and former lifestyle substantiate the speculation that the offender will obey the rule of law and especially that will not commit another crime…

Conclusion
Since the gby.pl is neither a daily newspaper nor a periodical, by discontinuing the proceedings in the case the courts apparently did not recognise that “the act was not committed or there was a lack of information sufficiently substantiating the suspicion of its committal” or that “the act did not bear the features of an illegal act or the law provided that the offender did not commit a crime”.

The Polish Act on Providing Services by Electronic Means was to implement into the Polish legislation the European Parliament and Council Directive 2000/31 of June 8, 2000 on certain legal aspects of information society services, in particular electronic commerce, in the internal market (Directive on electronic commerce) and the European Parliament and Council Directive 2002/58 concerning the processing of personal data and the protection of privacy in the electronic communications sector (Directive on privacy and electronic communications)¹⁴. The way Poland incorporated those two Directives into a single domestic legal act stirred considerable criticism¹⁵.

Many individuals pointed out that the implementation of the Directives boiled down mainly to the literal translation of their content into Polish, which was then put into a single legal act. In consequence, the Act draws on inconsistent terminology, for instance in some of the regulations the Polish Act uses the term “an information recipient” and in others “a service recipient”. Another problematic issue is the fact that the Act refers to other regulations provided in other domestic legal acts (e.g. the Telecommunications Law Act of 21 July 2000¹⁶). What is even more, the regulations of the Polish Act do not explicitly set out if a service provider is exempt from civil liability or also criminal liability resulting from rendering e-services. Even further, the European Council reminded Poland that it had implemented the Directive 2000/31 only partially¹⁷. As a result, Poland initiated another legislative process that aimed at full implementation of the Directive, especially with regard to the implementation of the “country of origin” rule and the rule of the freedom of providing e-services.

Apart from the imprecise PSEM and the 1984 Press Law Act, which is a legal act originating practically in another era¹⁸, the only legal act that directly refers to internet publications is the Access to Public Information Act of September 6, 2001. The Act introduced an “official teleinformation publishing system” in the form of a “unified webpage system” (article 8). The only Polish legal act that suggests how to create websites (for public institutions to comply with the obligation to publish public information) is the Minister’s of Interior and Administration Regulation of January 18, 2007 on the Public Information Bulletin (BIP). Under article 9(2) of the Regulation

Where a subject, referred to in article 4(1) and (2) of the Act, owns an internet website, the subject’s own BIP website shall be created as a part of the website by placing a link with the BIP logotype that shall give direct access to the subject’s BIP website.

Apart from the imprecise definition of the Public Information Bulletin, which functions on the basis of the aforementioned Access to Public Information Act, there can also be the socalled “own website” which, even though provided for in the Regulation, is not defined therein. In consequence, while creating websites, public administration bodies are bound by no other rules than those existing in the “outer world”. Having recognised that, the authors put forward a statement that since in Leszek Szymczak’s case the charges (publishing a periodical without a registration) were not dropped owing to the lack of features of a prohibited act, the same charges (publication of internet websites without proper registration) can be brought against the highest public institutions in Poland. The authors asked the Chief Police Officer on May 8, 2007 the following: do these “own” internet websites (of public institutions) exist legally? The answer was that the Polish police does not register their internet websites with a registration court.

In a democratic country observing the rule of law, the situation of a public institution, which under Article 7 of the Polish Constitution “functions on the basis and within the limits of the law”, differs from the situation of a subject functioning on the basis of economic freedom. Apart from publishing a BIP bulletin, Polish public institutions can also publish daily newspapers and periodicals (which is allowed under article 8 of the APIA)

The publisher can be a legal entity, a natural person or a different organizational entity, even if it is not a legal entity. In particular a publisher can be a public institution, a staterun company, a political organization, a labour union, a cooperative, a selfgovernment body and other social organization, a church or any other religious organization.

If this is the case, public administration institutions should also fulfil legal conditions on the publication of such a newspaper or a periodical. The current practice shows, nevertheless, that the public administration massively creates internet websites and does not register it with registration courts. The Chief Officer of the Police answered the authors¹⁹.

The Act of 28 January 1984, the Press Law, does not recognize internet websites as daily newspapers or periodicals.

The first President of the Supreme Court, Lech Gordocki, made a similar statement, later published in the press²⁰.

I am not going to apply to the Regional Court for the registration of the website of the Supreme Court since the Act does not provide such an obligation.

Neither the President of the Republic of Poland, nor the Commissioner for Civil Rights Protection, the Prime Minister of Poland and none of the Polish ministries and state agencies registered their own websites, which functionally do not differ from news websites. Then, if a court held that an individual who published a periodical without proper registration brought minor social harm, the court could rule otherwise if the charged entities were the police, the Prosecutor’s Office, the Ombudsman or even the President, who apart from BIP bulletins all publish news websites without registering them with registration courts²¹.

As already mentioned, the only normative suggestion concerning internet websites in Poland comes in the form of executive regulations relating to the Access to Public Information Act. These regulations do not differentiate between “websites”, “portals”, “vortals”, etc. Generally we do not know what a “portal”, a “vortal” or a “blog” are. However, Polish courts pass judgments in which judges try wrongly to differentiate between those terms²². If there is no difference between publishing a periodical necessitating proper registration and publishing a blog, then perhaps we should also scrutinise the publishing activities of Marek Siwiec, a Vice-President of the European Parliament, who has been publishing his ruminations at http://mareksiwiec.blog.onet.pl also without registration with a registration court since 2007.

Recent press releases in Poland induced several individuals to apply to registration courts for the registration of blogs as daily newspapers and periodicals (as understood by the Polish Press Law). In some of those applications courts decided to enter names of the blogs to the Register of Daily Newspapers and Periodicals. This, however, under the Polish law, does not mean that in Poland you need to register a blog with a registration court. First of all, such an application should be filed before publishing has started, but that, again, makes it impossible for a court to decide if a given activity necessitates registration. Secondly, courts cannot deny registration if an individual or an organisation files for the registration of something that is neither a daily newspaper nor a periodical. Under article 21 of the APL

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.

Owing to the above, Polish registration courts did enter the names of blogs provided by their applicants²³.

In the case of Leszek Szymczak, the defence asked the Polish Commissioner for Civil Rights Protection to apply for a revocation of the sentence (it can be applied for only by the Commissioner and the Prosecutor General). By the end of June 2008 the defence also filed a constitutional complaint (see the website of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights²⁴).

P.S.
The Regional Court in Słupsk in its judgment of 16 December 2008 acquitted Leszek Szymczak from charges of publishing press material featuring criminal content that publicly incited its readers to commit offences. See “Press law, case II K 367/08“.

Footnotes
1. Case file VI Ka 409/7.
2. Journal of Laws (Dziennik Ustaw) No.5, pos. 24, with subsequent changes.
3. Journal of Laws (Dziennik Ustaw) No.88, pos. 553, with subsequent changes.
4. On the basis of the decision of the Voivodeship Court in Slupsk Ns-Rej.Pr 8/91 of September 12, 1991.
5. Ustawa z dnia 18 lipca 2002 r. o świadczeniu usług droga elektroniczna, Journal of Laws (Dziennik Ustaw) of September 9, 2002, No.144, pos.1204, with subsequent amendments.
6. Directive 2000/31 of the European Parliament and of the Council of June 8, 2000 on certain legal aspects of information society services, in particular electronic commerce, in the Internal Market (Directive on electronic commerce) [2000] OJ L178/1-16.
7. Case file I ACa 277/05.
8. Case file I ACa 601/98. Broadcasting Act, Ustawa z dnia 29 grudnia 1992 r. o radiofonii i telewizji, Journal of Laws (Dziennik Ustaw) of 2004, No. 253 item 2531.
9. Case file V KKN 171/98.
10. Case file III CZP 160/93.
11. Az. 27 S 2/07.
12. Decision of December 7, 2006, Az. 10 W 106/06; BGH NJW 2004, 3102.
13. J. Kurek, Comment available at http://prawo.vagla.pl/node/7341#comment-4526 [Accessed November 10, 2008].
14. [2002] OJ L 201/37-47.
15. G. Raczka, Ochrona Uslugobiorcy uslug elektronicznych (Torun 2007), p. 63, W. Iszkowski, X. Konraski, “Elektroniczne uslugi”, Rzeczpospolita newspaper, March 4, 2003.
16. Journal of Laws (Dziennik Ustaw) of 2001, no.73, pos. 852, as amended.
17. Commission of the European Communities, First Report on the application of Directive 2000/31 of the European Parliament and of the Council of June 8, 2000 on certain legal aspects of information society services, in particular electronic commerce, in the Internal Market (Directive on electronic commerce), Brussels, November 21, 2003, COM(2003) 702 final, p. 19.
18. It is noteworthy that August 17, 1991 is a symbolic date recognised as the inception of the Polish internet, i.e. the first time when via an IP protocol the Physics Department of the Warsaw University sent data to the Computer Centre of the Copenhagen University.
19 Letter of June 19, 2007 regarding the answer of the spokesman of the Chief Officer of the Police concerning websites run by the police. See http:// prawo.vagla.pl/node/7329 [Accessed November 10, 2008].
20. In a Polish daily newspaper, Rzeczpospolita, on September 6, 2007.
21. See http://www.president.pl, http://www.kprm.gov.pl/english, http:// www.rpo.gov.pl/index.php?s=3 [Accessed November 10, 2008].
22. See Judgment the district court in Warsaw (IV Civil Division) of June 9, 2008, case file Act IV C 806/07.
23. See http://olgierd.bblog.pl/wpis,moj;nowy;organ;prasowy,7042.html [Accessed November 10, 2008].
24. See http://www.hfhrpol.waw.pl/precedens/pl/aktualnosci/sprawa-gazety-bytowskiej-w-tk.html [Accessed November 10, 2008].

This article was originally published under the title Polish Courts Say Websites Should Be Registered As Press in the Computer and Telecommunications Law Review, C.T.L.R. 2009, 15(1), 9-14.

Advertising law, alcohol products

January 13th, 2009, Tomasz Rychlicki

In the article entitled “Mniej reklam piwa w telewizji, kinie i teatrze“, the Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita reports a recent legislative intiative regarding the advertising of alcohol products. Currently regulations on alcohol advertisement are included in the Act on Upbringing in Sobriety and Counteracting Alcoholism – USCA – (Polish: Ustawa o wychowaniu w trzeźwości i przeciwdziałaniu alkoholizmowi) of 26 October 1982, published in Journal of Laws (Dziennik Ustaw) No 35, item 230, cosolidated text published in Journal of Laws (Dziennik Ustaw) of 28 March 2007, No 70, item 472, with later amendments. There are very important definitions included in article 2 of the USCA.

(2) promotion of alcoholic beverages – a public tasting of alcoholic beverages, free distribution of accessories associated with alcoholic beverages, organising the sale of alcoholic beverages with prize-awarding and contests based on purchase of alcoholic beverages, as well as any other forms of encouraging publicly to purchase alcoholic beverages, excluding competitions based on the purchase of alcoholic beverages,

(3) advertising of alcoholic beverages – the public dissemination of trade marks of alcoholic beverages or graphic symbols related to them, as well as names and graphic symbols of entrepreneurs producing alcoholic beverages not being different from names and symbols of alcoholic beverages, which serve to popularise trade marks of alcoholic beverages; any information used for trade purposes, exchanged between firms engaged in the production of, wholesale trading and retail trading in alcoholic beverages, shall not be deemed to be advertising,

(4) sponsorship – direct or indirect financing or co-finance of the activities of individuals, legal persons or organizational units without legal personality for the dissemination, establishing or enhance the reputation of the name, manufacturer or distributor, the trade mark or other sign to individualise of the entrepreneur, its business, product or service

(5) information on the sponsorship – presenting information that includes the name of the sponsor or his trade mark in connection with the sponsorship,

According to article 13¹ of the USCA, Advertising of alcoholic beverages shall be prohibited in Poland, except for beer, advertising of which shall be permitted provided that:

(1) is not directed at minors,
(2) does not depict minors,
(3) does not combine the consumption of alcohol with fitness, or driving,
(4) does not include claims that alcohol has medicinal properties, is a stimulant, tranquillizer or a means of resolving personal conflicts,
(5) does not encourage the excessive consumption of alcohol,
(6) does not present abstinence or moderate consumption of alcohol in a negative way,
(7) does not highlight the high alcoholic content as being a positive quality of alcoholic beverage,
(8) does not have associations with (a) sexual attractiveness, (b) relaxation or recreation, (c) study or work, (d) success or professional life.

2. Advertising and promotion of beer, referred to in paragraph 1 can not be pursued:
(1) in television, radio, cinema and theater hours between 6am and 8pm, with the exception of the advertising provided by the organizer of professional sports in the course of this event;
(2) on video cassettes and other media;
(3) in the press for young people and children;
(4) on the covers of newspapers and magazines;
(5) on advertising posts and billboards and other fixed and movable surfaces used for advertising, except that 20% of the advertising surface will placed with visible and legible inscription indicating about the harmful use of alcohol or to ban of the sale of alcohol to minors;
(6) with the participation of minors.

Categories: Act on Upbringing in Sobriety and Counteracting Alcoholism | advertising law | alcohol advertising | Polish law.

Trade mark law, case Sp. 574/07

January 10th, 2009, Tomasz Rychlicki

On 19 April 2004 the Polish company Browar AMBER Andrzej Przybylo from Bielkówko applied for two word-figurative trade marks HANZA PILSENER Z-279466 and PRIVAT BRAUEREI EST 1664 HANZA PILSENER EXPORT PREMIUM BIER Z-279465. However, the Polish Patent Office was not able to grant them because there existed an earlier registration for the word trade mark HANSA R-77233, first applied for on 30 December 1991 by German company Dortmunder Actien-Brauerei Aktiengesellschaft for goods in Class 32 such as beer. The right of protection was granted by the PPO on 3 March 1994.

Z-279466

Browar AMBER filed before the PPO a request to issue a decision on the lapse of the right of protection for the HANSA trade mark. The request was based on Article 169(1)(i) of the Polish Act of 30 June 2000 on Industrial Property Law – IPL – (in Polish: ustawa Prawo własności przemysłowej) of 30 June 2000, published in Journal of Laws (Dziennik Ustaw) of 2001 No 49, item 508, consolidated text of 13 June 2003, Journal of Laws (Dziennik Ustaw) No 119, item 1117, with subsequent amendments.

1. The right of protection for a trade mark shall also lapse:
(i) on failure to put to genuine use of the registered trade mark for the goods covered by the registration for a period of five successive years after a decision on the grant of a right of protection has been taken, unless serious reasons of non-use thereof exists.

On 18 November 2008, the Polish Patent Office postponed the hearings case file Sp. 574/07 and ordered the German company to provide evidence of trade mark use. The PPO asked for translated invoices confirming the sale of beer under the brand HANSA and for evidence to demonstrate the actual use of that mark. Dortmunder Actien-Brauerei Aktiengesellschaft has a 2-month deadline to file such documents.