The Polish company InternetQ Poland Sp. z o.o. from Warszawa has sent text messages (SMS) to an unspecified group of people suggesting that they won prize of 20.000 PLN in some competition. The only tricky requirement was to send an empty text message as a reply. One of the recipients sued the company in order to force it to pay the prize. He based his claims on the provisions of Articles 353 and 354 of the Civil Code – CC – (in Polish: Kodeks Cywilny) of 23 April 1964, published in Journal of Laws (Dziennik Ustaw) No. 16, item 93, with subsequent amendments

Article 353. § 1. An obligation shall consist in that the creditor may demand a performance from the debtor, and the debtor is obliged to provide the performance.
§ 2. The performance may consist in act or omission.

Article 353¹. The parties to a contract may arrange the legal relationship as they deem proper on the condition that the contents or the purpose of that contract are not contrary to the nature of the relationship, with statutory law, and with the principles of community life.

Article 354. § 1. The debtor must discharge his obligation in accordance with its contents and in a manner complying with its socioeconomic purpose and the principles of community life, and if there are established customs in that respect, also in a manner complying with those customs.
§ 2. The creditor shall be obliged to co-operate in the discharge of the obligation in the same way.

The Regional Court in Warszawa for Warszawa-Śródmieście in its judgment of 3 November 2011 case file VI C 143/11 held that consumer’s claims are well founded and awarded on his behalf 60.000 PLN. InternetQ filed an appeal.

Categories: consumer protection law | e-adverstising | e-law issues | e-marketing | legal regulations on computer networks | Polish Civil Code | Polish courts | Polish law | Polish Regional Court | telecommunication law.