Polish IP & IT law – copyright trademark computer internet telecomm

Archive for: e-law issues

E-access to public information, case IV SA/Gl 1002/11

October 14th, 2011, Tomasz Rychlicki

A journalists requested one of the Polish companies to disclose information about the earnings of its directors (CEOs) and members of the supervisory board. He also wanted to know how many prizes, bonuses and other financial inducements were received by the CEO and the board members in the last three years, and how much the company has spent on advertising and promotion, how much spending and subsidies were distributed for non-governmental organizations, staff training, banquets and small meetings. He also demanded the indication of dates, names and amounts, the method of selecting contractors. This request was based on the provisions of the Polish Act of 6 September 2001 on Access to Public Information – API – (in Polish: Ustawa o dostępie do informacji publicznej), published in Journal of Laws (Dziennik Ustaw) No. 112, item 1198, with subsequent amendments. The journalist noted that the expected response should be sent to him via e-mail. The company provided information only on salaries, and refused to disclose other information that was subject to the request. The decision has been sent in the form of an electronic document to an e-mail address provided by a journalist. The company noted that other information belong to the category of “processed information”, therefore, the applicant has to indicate why the disclosure of such information is particularly important for the public interest. The journalist filed a complaint against this decision.

The Voivodeship Administrative Court in Gliwice in its judgment of 19 September 2011 case file IV SA/Gl 1002/11 rejected it, because of procedural reasons. However, the VAC held that the administration decision issued in the form of an electronic document must be signed by a secure electronic signature that is verifiable by a valid qualified certificate. The administrative decision that does not meet these requirements can not be regarded as signed, and therefore is not valid according to the provisions of Article 14 of the Administrative Proceedings Code – APC – (in Polish: Kodeks postępowania administracyjnego) of 14 June 1960, published in Journal of Laws (Dziennik Ustaw) No 30, item 168, consolidated text of 9 October 2000, Journal of Laws (Dziennik Ustaw) No 98, item 1071 with subsequent amendments.

Article 14. Principle of written proceedings
§ 1. All matters shall be disposed of in writing or in the form of an electronic document as defined in the Act of 17 February 2005 on Informatization of Operation of Entities Performing Public Tasks (Journal of Laws No. 64, item 565, as ammended), to be served by means of electronic communication.

The VAC also noted that in this case the decision has not been delivered in the proper form.

Article 110.
The public administration body issuing the decision shall be bound by it from the time of its service or publication, unless the Code provides otherwise.

Although in this case the content of the decision was known but it was not delivered in the form provided in the provisions of the APC. The decision was in fact delivered in writing but it was served by electronic means and in a way that was inconsistent with the provisions of APC, which could not be considered as effective service.

Personal interest, case II SA/Wa 364/11

October 13th, 2011, Tomasz Rychlicki

On January 2010, entries signed by the nick “arfulik” appeared on few Polish websites, the author wrote critically about the company Bavaria Consulting and a person who is a member of the board. It seemed that this unknown author conducted a competitive activity. Bavaria and Krystiana D. decided to sue for the infringement of personal interest. They needed personal data of a person who wrote questioned comments. Telekomunikacja Polska (TP), one of the largest ISPs, refused to provide such information, referring to the telecommunications confidentiality included in the Article 159 of the Polish Act of 16 July 2000, Telecommunications Law – TLA – (in Polish: Prawo telekomunikacyjne), published in Journal of Laws (Dziennik Ustaw) No 171, item 1800 with subsequent amendments. Allegedly slandered filed a complaint to the Inspector General for Personal Data Protection (GIODO). The GIODO ordered the disclosure the personal data but he overturned this decision after TP filed a request for reconsideration. The GIODO decided that such information is subject to the telecommunications confidentiality and found no reason to disclose it. The offended persons lodged a complaint against this decision.

The Voivodeship Administrative Court in its judgment of 7 October 2011 case file II SA/Wa 364/11 dismissed it, and ruled that the intention of bringing action against the author of a forum post or comment is not a sufficient condition to disclose personal data. One has to file a suit for protection of personal interest. Only then, a court in order to avoid procedural deficiency, will summon the telecommunications operator to disclose personal data of the author of the questioned post.

Personal interests, case I CSK 743/10

October 8th, 2011, Tomasz Rychlicki

The Supreme Court in its judgment case file I CSK 743/10 ruled that if the newspaper, which lost a case for protection of personal interests and was ordered to publish an apology in the paper version, has also an online edition, then such a newspaper should also place a reference to apologies for this publication in its online archive.

Personal interest, case I ACa 1273/11

October 3rd, 2011, Tomasz Rychlicki

Mr Andrzej Jezior is a councillor of the Town Council in Ryglice, and he also runs a personal website available at andrzejjezior.blog.onet.pl. He often post comments regarding affairs of local life of the young Ryglice town. Some readers of his website posted negative comments on Bernard Karasiewicz, who was at this time the mayor of this small town. Despite the fact that Mr Jezior removed these comments, Mr Karasiewicz sued for violation of his personal interest. The suit was based on regulations included in the Polish Act on Elections to municipal councils, county councils and regional assemblies, in connection with regulations included in the Polish Act on the direct elections of village-mayor (prefect), town mayor, president of a city.

The District Court in Tarnów in its order of 15 November 2010 case file I Ns 162/10 agreed with the mayor and ordered Mr Jezior to publish an apology on his website, prohibited him from further distribution of these comments and ordered him to pay 5000 PLN for Caritas of the Tarnowska diocese and the case expenses in the amount of 240 PLN. The Court ruled, that Mr Jezior should be held liable for the comments that appeared on his website, because they came from people enjoying freedom of expression. Running a website that allows for posting such comments should be considered a wrongful action that is contrary to public policy and the principles of social coexistence. Mr Jezior appealed.

The Appeallate Court in Krakow in its order of 17 November 2010 case file Acz 1457/10 dismissed the complaint.

Mr Karasiewicz lost local elections in 2010. He sued Mr Jezior for violation of his personal interest again, alleging the comments caused that he was not re-elected to serve as a mayor of Ryglice. This time the suit was based on the regulations included in the Civil Code.

The District Court in Tarnów in its judgment of 3 October 2011 case file I C 319/11 ordered the defendant to publish an apology in the local press for “distributing” content that infringes upon the personal interests of the plaintiff and his family, to pay 1000 PLN compensation and reimbursement of the proceeding costs in the amount of 650 PLN. The Court dismissed the claim where the plaintiff demanded the payment of compensation in the amount of 10.000 PLN. The Court ruled that defendant is responsible and he should bear the consequences that he has made a forum that was available for the publication of any message. Mr Jezior appealed. The Appeallate Court in Kraków in its judgment of 19 January 2012 case file I ACa 1273/11 reversed the judgment of the District Court and dismissed the suit.

Tax law, case I SA/Ol 270/11

September 24th, 2011, Tomasz Rychlicki

The Director of a Tax office decided that a person who led undeclared but taxable economic activity is subject to VAT. This decision was based on the basis of bank statements and information provided by the auction website Allegro. The amount of the tax obligation was set out in the amount of tax due, without reduction of input tax, because the tax payer did not submit any invoices that would serve as evidence of purchase of the goods that were later resold via Allegro.

The Voivodeship Administrative Court in Olsztyn in its judgment of 29 June 2011 case file I SA/Ol 270/11 held that a person who conducts business activities that were undeclared to tax, has the right to deduct the input VAT due, but such person must have the purchase invoices, because without them, the tax authorities are unable to verify the prices of the goods resold.

Tax law, case I SA/Łd 762/10

September 24th, 2011, Tomasz Rychlicki

The Voivodeship Administrative Court in Łódź in its judgment of 23 September 2010 case file I SA/Łd 762/10 held that a person whose account on an auction website was illegally hacked and used for sale of goods by someone else, is not obliged account to tax for such activity.

Telecommunication law, case XVII AmA 62/08

August 27th, 2011, Tomasz Rychlicki

The President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection in its decision of 20 December 2007 No. DOK-98/2007 decided that the market practice of Telekomunikacja Polska S.A. based on discriminatory lowering of IP traffic, by actions that lead to a reduction of the quality or the disabling of data transfer, is the practice of restricting competition. Telekomunikacja Polska appealed.

The Court of Competition and Consumer Protection in its judgment of 11 April 2011 case file XVII AmA 62/08 overturned the questioned decision in part. However, the Court did not argue with the President of the OCCP, that Telekomunikacja Polska was quilty of restricting competition.

E-access to public information, case IV SAB/Gl 36/11

August 24th, 2011, Tomasz Rychlicki

The Voivodeship Administrative Court in Gliwice in its judgment of 2 August 2011 case file II SAB/Wa 86/07, held that the request filed in the electronic form i.e via e-mail, is a sufficient request for disclosure of public information. The Court repeated the rule that the request for disclosure of public information can take any form, unless it is sufficiently clear what is requested. The VAC ruled that in order to facilitate the submission of applications, public bodies may prepare their own forms, but the disclosure of public information can not be conditional, based on which form such a request is made.

Internet domains, case I ACa 1087/10

August 2nd, 2011, Tomasz Rychlicki

The Court of Conciliation for Internet Domains at the Polish Chamber of Information Technology and Telecommunications (the CCID) in its award of 9 March 2010 case file 74/09/PA dismissed the complaint brought by Italian company Bisazza against Polish entrepreneur Rafał Kacprzak Installation.pl from Wrocław who registered the following domain names: bisazza.pl, bisazza.com.pl and bisazza-installation.com. Bisazza claimed that the registration of .pl domains infringed on its CTM BISAZZA no. 001494590 and word-figurative CTM “BISAZZA mosaico” no. 001500248. Surprisingly, the Court did not agree with arguments provided by the Italian company and held that there was no infringement because the regulations included in the Polish Industrial Property law that did not allow for such interpretation. According to the CCID, there was no delict/tort of unfair competition as activities of both companies should be deemed as complementary. The CCID noted that Bisazza could act more carefully and it should have registered both domain names much earlier. According to the Court, by advertising products of the Italian company, Mr. Kacprzak was not acting as a cyber squatter because he did not only intend to increase his financial benefits but he was doing it in order to maximise mutual benefits. The Court also said the Mr. Kacprzak did not infringe on the company name.

CTM no. 001500248

Bisazza S.p.A. filed a complaint against this controversial decision. The Company claimed the arbitration award is contrary to the public policy rules established in the Republic of Poland, including the protection of acquired rights, social justice, stable and secure law, comprehensive examination of the case, consistency of legal decisions and integrity of the legal system.

The Court for the Community Trade Marks and Community Designs in its judgment of 20 September 2010 case file XXII GWzt 17/10 annulled the questioned award. To begin with, the Court reminded that the Polish legislator sought to strengthen the arbitration proceedings by limiting the possibility of challenge of the awards issued by courts of arbitration. The competence of common courts in controlling the correctness of awards issued by arbitration courts are very limited and strictly defined. The petition for the reversal of the arbitration award belongs to the category of special appeals. It has a cassatory character (annulment of a judicial decision is allowed only in certain cases under strict conditions). In such proceedings the Court will not examine the merits of the dispute (if the facts warrant issued ruling) or verify the correctness of the findings that were made and accepted. All the grounds justifying of the petition for the reversal of the arbitration award are included in the Article 1206 §1-2 of the CPC.

§ 1 By way of an application a party may apply for the award to be set aside if:
1) there was no arbitration agreement, the agreement is not valid, ineffective or has expired under the law applicable to it;
2) the party was not given proper notice of the appointment of an arbitrator, of the arbitration proceedings or was otherwise unable to present its case before the arbitration tribunal;
3) the award deals with a dispute not contemplated by or beyond the scope of the arbitration agreement, provided that, if the decisions on matters submitted arbitration can be separated from those not so submitted or falling beyond the scope of the arbitration agreement, then only that part of the award which relates to the matters not submitted or falling beyond the submission may be set aside; the fact that a matter is beyond the scope of the arbitration agreement cannot constitute a ground for setting aside the award if a party who participated in the proceedings did not object to those claims being heard;
4) the composition of the arbitration tribunal or the fundamental rules of arbitral procedure were not in accordance with the agreement of the parties or with a provision of law;
5) the award was obtained by way of a crime or on the basis of a forged or falsified document,
6) a final judgment has already been made in the same case between the same parties.

§ 2. The arbitration award shall also be set aside if the court finds that:
1) the dispute was not capable of settlement by arbitration under the law;
2) the award is contrary to the public policy rules in the Republic of Poland (public order clause).

The Court noted that when assessing whether an arbitration award is contrary to the fundamental principles of law, the Court should take into account its content and not the correctness of the proceedings that were held before the arbitration body. The basic principles of the law underlying the assessment of the award should be understood not only as the constitutional rules but also as the general norms and rules in particular areas of law. The breach by an arbitration body of the proper substantive law justifies the reversal of the arbitration award only if the award is contrary to legal order. The arbitration body shall decide on the dispute according to the law of the legal relationship and when the parties explicitly mandated it – by the general principles of law or equity/fairness. The Court for the Community Trade Marks and Community Designs concluded that the interpretation of basic principles of trademark law both national and Community, that was provided by the CCID in its award, shows lack of understanding of the merits of law and lack of the ability to apply existing rules to the facts of this case. The arbitration court committed various irregularities: by qualifying the rights to Bisazza trade marks as national property rights, in examining the infringement based on only one character – probably a word trade mark – without considering the reputation, by dismissing the infringement claims on the basis of facts that do not have any meaning in trademark law while failing to examine identity/similarity of the marks and signs included in Internet domains and the goods and services of each party. The court reminded the arbitrator that the rules and regulations under the First Council Directive 89/104/EEC of 21 December 1988 to approximate the laws of the Member States relating to trade marks, the CTMR and the case law of the Court of Justice of the UE apply directly in disputes over infringement of the Community trade mark. These rules and regulations must be applied also by national courts including arbitration bodies. Incorrect choice of legal norms and wrongful interpretation led to an unjustified deprivation of protection which is afforded to Bisazza in relation to its trademarks.

Mr Kacprzak appealed. The Appellate Court in Warsaw in its judgement of 1 April 2011 case file I ACa 1087/10 overturned the judgment of the Court for the Community Trade Marks and Community Designs. The Appellate Court found that since the CCID ruled that it has no jurisdiction to hear and decide upon some of the demands made by Bisazza, and rejected them in the suit, the decision was final and could not be controlled at all by the civil courts, including the proceedings caused by an action for annulment of an arbitration award. The findings stating that the CCID had no jurisdiction, that were based on the domain names regulations issued by the Scientific and Academic Computer Network (Naukowa i Akademicka Sieć Komputerowa), did not constitute a breach of the basic principles of the law (the public order clause), because Bisazza could take these demands to a civil court. In the opinion of the Appellate Court, the District Court failed to consider whether the erroneous application of the Polish law rather than the EU by the CCID was tantamount to violation of the basic principles of the law. It could have been so, only if it had a significant impact on the content of the decision rendered by the CCID. In the opinion of the Appellate Court, however, there was no such effect in this case. The Appellate Court ruled that the relevant regulations provided in the Polish law are the result of the implementation of the Directive 89/104/EEC and its relevant provisions required for this case to be then included in the CTMR. The Court decided that the solutions provided in the Polish law are similar to those of EU legislation, and the classification of infringement of trade mark rights is done by the same rules. The Appellate Court noted that the CCID found that Mr Kacprzak used, in the course of trade, a trademark identical to a protected mark not in relation to identical or similar goods but to goods protected by this trademark. The defendant is an installer of Bisazza mosaics but not identical or similar mosaics. The CCID examined also whether or not there is an infringement of reputed trademark, however, found no such breach. The Appellate Court also ruled that the award of the CCID did not violate the rules and principles of a stable and secure law because these rules should relate to the creation of law and not its application.

See also “Polish case law on domain names“.

Personal data protection, case I OSK 1208/10

July 11th, 2011, Tomasz Rychlicki

Katarzyna S. had a website where she published information on breeding dogs. There was also another forum with such information. Grzegorz W. was a dog breeder and he noticed that his personal data and information on his breeding appeared on this websites. Some users posted also negative comments. Grzegorz W. requested the Inspector General for Personal Data Protection (GIODO) to issue an administrative decision ordering the removal of his personal data and all threads and posts connected with his name. He also requested the GIODO to check whether Katarzyna S. as a controller has registered the collection of personal data that was gathered during the operation of her website and the forum.

GIODO learned that the forum website was administered by another person who claimed that the questioned website had nothing to do with her professional activity, it was only a hobby. She never received any paid advertising, nor any funds from anyone. Moreover, she informed that the forum was removed from the net for several months. GIODO discontinued the proceedings. GIODO ruled that Katarzyna S. was not involved in the processing of personal data as a part of her business or professional activity. Jerzy W. filed a complaint against this decision.

The Voivodeship Administrative Court in its judgment of 14 April 2010 case file II SA/Wa 2130/09 ruled that dogs breeding may be directed to gain profits, because it can be associated with the sale of dogs. The Court decided that GIODO should reconsider the case. GIODO filed a cassation complaint.

The Supreme Administrative Court in its judgment of 28 June 2011 case file I OSK 1208/10 overturned the questioned judgment and sent the case back for reconsideration. The SAC ordered the VAC to examine whether the processing of personal data on the internet website had something to do with breeding activities.

Personal interest, case I ACz 462/11

June 20th, 2011, Tomasz Rychlicki

A Polish Internet user has started a Facebook account in which he accused a travel agency Alfa Star from Radom of dishonesty and presented bad reviews of its services. Other Facebook users also started to post negative comments. The travel agency filed a suit for protection of personal interest together with the injunction to delete the Facebook account along with all the comments until the final decision in the case is rendered. The District Court in Radom granted the injunctive relief. Bartosz C. filed a complaint against this decision. The Appellate Court in Lublin in its order of 30 May 2011 case file I ACz 462/11 reversed the injunction. The Court noted that although the company has shown its interest in granting the injunction, it also seek this way to satisfy all claims included in the suit. If, before the end of the proceeding, the company would obtain the injunction to remove an account, this would actually satisfy its claims. The Court noted that the injunction should be granted to the extent that the plaintiff is afforded the adequate legal protection, and the defendant it not burden more than it’s needed. Facebook allows for the deactivation of an account and such injunction should be considered by the District Court as adequate injunction.

Personal interest, case I C 1050/09

June 3rd, 2011, Tomasz Rychlicki

Paweł Wodniak, journalist of the website “Fakty Oświęcim” was sued by Artur Kierczyński for violation of his personal interest. Mr Wodniak prepared a short video report in which presented testimonials of Broszkowice citizens, who participated in blocking the road 933 in a protest against a nearby gravel-pit from being functional. The report also contained footage of Marian Gołąb, who was the Mayor of Broszkowice, stating that there is already a criminal investigation underway on the ex-owner of the gravel-pit. Mr Gołąb released full name of Artur Kierczyński. Mr Kierczyński sued for violation of personal interest for releasing his full surname while there was an ongoing criminal trial against him. In his opinion, Mr Wodniak’s behavior breached the rule of alleged innocence and it was a breach of Article 13(2) of the 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 subsequent amendmets.

One cannot publish in the media personal information and images of individuals, against whom there is an ongoing preparatory proceedings or court proceeding as well as personal information and images of witnesses, wounded and hurt, unless these persons agree to it.

The District Court in Kraków in its judgment case file I C 1050/09 dismissed the lawsuit. The Court ruled that a news report that merely mentions an individual’s involvement in a criminal proceeding does not constitute a violation of the above mentioned regulations on Press Law, the rule of innocence, or journalism ethics.

Access to public information, case III SAB/ Lu 1/09

May 13th, 2011, Tomasz Rychlicki

A Polish citizen requested the President of one of the Regional courts to disclose the calendar of causes that concerned his case. The President informed that the calendar of causes cannot be disclosed, because the regulation on the work of common courts does not permit for such disclosure after the calendar is deposited in the court’s records. Jan H. filed a complaint for failure to act, claiming President’s inaction in his case.

The Voivodeship Administrative Court in Lublin in its judgment of 2 July 2009 case file III SAB/Lu 1/09 held that the regional court is a public authority under the the Polish Act of 6 September 2001 on access to public information – API – (in Polish: Ustawa o dostępie do informacji publicznej), published in Journal of Laws (Dziennik Ustaw) No. 112, item 1198, with subsequent amendments, and is therefore obliged to provide public information. Jan H. has the right to request the disclosure of public information, because everyone has that right, and what’s more important, the person exercising the right to public information is not required to demonstrate his or her legal or factual interest. The calendar of cases and dockets includes a list of cases that are heard in a given day by a court in a particular composition, and as such is deemed as public information, that concerns the work and operation of a public authority, which in this case, was the Regional court. Thus, the citizen’s request has to be considered in terms of request for public information. The VAC noted that internal regulations on the office work cannot be the basis on deciding on civil rights.

Personal data protection, case II SA/Wa 2037/10

May 12th, 2011, Tomasz Rychlicki

The Polish branch of McDonald’s Corp. has made a promotional campaign based on the issuance of the so-called “bonificards” i.e. discount cards entitling the holder to purchase certain McDonald’s products at a reduced price. Only employees and business partners were allowed to use such cards. The terms of the promotion explicitly stated that the cards cannot be resold. McDonald’s learned that cards were offered for sale or as a free bonus to other items sold on Allegro – Polish Internet auctions website.

McDonald’s requested Allegro to disclose personal data of persons engaged in the above mentioned auctions, on the grounds that these buyers and sellers violated the terms and rules of promotion, and thus McDonald’s intended to take steps to – on one hand – to deprive sellers of their wrongfully obtained benefits, on the other hand – to take away all bonificards from people who bought them. Allegro refused to provide requested data, indicating that there was no reason to assume that there was any kind of illegal action, arguing that disclosure may be classified as unlawful conduct of the controller that violates personal interests of the users and that may result in Allegro’s responsibility that is based on civil law regulations.

McDonald’s requested the Inspector General for Personal Data Protection to order Allegro the disclosure of information previously requested. The GIODO refused and pointed out that in this case the interests of McDonald’s cannot prevail over the interests of persons affected by the request. The disclosure of such data would be, in fact, too far-reaching interference with the privacy of the person concerned. McDonald’s filed a complaint against these decisions.

The Voivodeship Administrative Court in Warsaw in its judgment of 16 March 2011 case file II SA/Wa 2037/10 overruled GIODO’s decisions. The VAC held that McDonald’s has the right to know who offers promotion cards at online auctions provided by Allegro. The Court ruled that the provisions of the PPD cannot be interpreted as meaning that the disclosure of personal data of a person who offer to sell someone else’s property, violates that person’s interests. The protection of interests of one person cannot be done without prejudice to the rights of others. Especially, when such persons knew that they were trying to dispose of someone’s else things whose value was measured in money (the value of the Company’s products that were available in the promotional terms). The court ordered to reconsider the case, where the GIODO shall take into account all comments made by the VAC. The GIODO decided to file a cassation complaint.

The Supreme Administrative Court in its judgments case files I OSK 834/11 and I OSK 1137/11 agreed with the GIODO. The Court held that in the case of electronic services, personal data may be disclosed only for the purposes of criminal proceedings.

Civil law, case II Ca 26/11

May 9th, 2011, Tomasz Rychlicki

Andrzej J., a Polish farmer, ordered his 17-year-old son to put up for sale a tractor. He told him to use Allegro.pl, the most popular Polish auction website. It was one of the first auctions on the Internet for both of them. However, his son, who started the action, did not specify a minimum selling price. The auction was attended by six interested parties. The highest offer of 11.000 PLN bid by Adam S., let him to win the auction. Andrzej J. refused to hand over the vehicle, claiming that the winning price was too low. He argued that his son is minor and although he received his father’s command, he exceeded the scope of the mandate, because despite the clear indication, he did not select in the options, the minimum price that should be set to 38.000 PLN (it was set at the last day of the auction at the suggestion of the mother). Andrzej J. claimed that he was not aware that such transaction can be concluded below the minimum price, and he hadn’t the possibility of withdrawing the offer. He argued that he acted under the influence of the error in fact, therefore, he should be released from the conclusion of the agreement.

The District Court in Łuków held that the claim for a vehicle at the price of 11.000 is fully justified. The Court pointed to the wording of Article 70¹ of the Civil Code.

Article 70¹. § 1. A contract may be concluded by means of an auction or tendering.
§ 2. An announcement of an auction or tendering shall specify the time, place, object and terms of the auction or the tendering, or to indicate how such terms are available.
§ 3. The announcement and the terms of the auction or the tendering may be changed or revoked only when it has been stipulated in their contents.
§ 4. Since the moment of making the terms available and making the bid respectively by an organizer and the bidder according to the announcement of the auction or tendering, they shall proceed in accordance with the provisions of the announcement, likewise the provisions of the terms of auction or the tendering.

In this case, the terms for auctions and the procedures for the conclusion were established by Allegro in its Terms of Service, which were both accepted by the seller and the buyer. According to the terms of Allegro, the seller can make changes to the content of the auction only in three minutes after the auction begins. The Court ruled that the son of Andrzej J. did not act as his proxy, but as a messenger, whose role was purely technical, he had to enter some data on an auction website, therefore he could not be regarded as representative based on provisions of the Polish Civil Code.

Article 95. § 1. Barring the exceptions specified in statutory law or resulting from the character of a given act in law, an act in law may be performed through a representative.
§ 2. An act in law performed by a representative within the limits of the authorization shall have direct effects for the person represented.

Article 96. The authorization to act on behalf of another person may be based on statutory law (statutory representation) or on the declaration by the person represented (power of attorney).

The District Court in Lublin in its judgment case file II Ca 26/11 upheld a lower court’s judgment. See also “Civil law, case I ACa 295/10“.

Collective interests of consumers, case III SK 44/10

May 9th, 2011, Tomasz Rychlicki

Terms of Service of Domeny.pl website contained a clause that allowed Domeny.pl to introduce changes in TOS and it also included a statement that the changes take effect “from the time a new version is available on the website”. The President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection decided that this provision violates the collective interests of consumers as they should be always informed about amendments to the terms. Otherwise they would have to constantly check to see if TOS has not been modified. The President ordered the removal of the questioned terms of service. Domeny.pl filed a complaint against this decision. The Supreme Court in its judgment of 12 April 2011 case file III SK 44/10 dismissed the complaint.

Personal interest, case I ACa 544/10

March 22nd, 2011, Tomasz Rychlicki

A critical article was published in a paper magazine entitled “Forum Akademickie”. It concerned one of the scientist from the University of Opole. Some offensive comments appeared also at magazine’s online forum. These entries were removed after the administrator received a notice from the researcher. There was another offensive entry published on 30 November 2008, but on the same day it has been removed by a site administrator. The researcher sued the editor for allowing for the publication of inaccurate and defamatory comments which in consequence infringed on his personal interests. The District Court in Lublin dismissed the claim as unjustified. The Court held that according to regulations included in Article 14 and 15 of the PSEM the defendants cannot be held responsible because they prevented the access to questioned data/entries. The plaintiff appealed.

The Appellate Court in Lublin in its judgment case file I ACa 544/10 held that defendants should be held liable because they provided a website that was used for discussion and exchange of different views and they posted also a warning message about the moderation or deletion of entries that will not fit for certain rules, although according to the Court they were not obliged to do so, but they also employed for this purpose a person whose duty included monitoring the entries and the removal of those that were posed not in accordance with law and social norms. Therefore, The Court ruled that defendants had knowledge of illegal entries. As a result, they were responsible for failing to remove them without delay and to do so only after many months, at the request of the plaintiff.

The Court ordered the defendants (the editor of the magazine and its publisher) to publish under the article the statement of apology and to pay jointly 5.000 PLN to charity. The judgement is not final.

Criminal law, case II Kp 366/10

March 11th, 2011, Tomasz Rychlicki

The Polish prosecutor decided to discontinue the proceedings against a man who allegedly changed the password to an e-mail account of another person. The IP address of a computer that was used to commit this act served as the only evidence. The Prosecutor stated that a lot of people had access to this computer, so it was difficult or almost impossible to determine the offender. The aggrieved person has made a complaint to the Regional Court in Otwock. The court in its decision case file II Kp 366/10 anulled the order of the prosecution and ruled that the Prosecutor should prepare additional evidence such as interrogation and confessions of witnesses.

Personal interest, case II CSK 431/10

February 21st, 2011, Tomasz Rychlicki

Polish pop-singer Dorota Rabczewska sued Polish rapper Mieszko Sibilski for the infringement of her personal interests. She demanded an apology and 20.000 PLN as compensation for the damage she suffered. Rabaczewska lost the case in the first instance. The Court of second instance ordered Sibilski to publish an apology for the infringement of her dignity in the form of an online ad that has to be placed for 7 days at Polish portal site Onet.pl. The calculations showed that such action would cost around 32.000.000 PLN. Sibilski lodged an cassation complaint.

The Supreme Court in its order of 2 February 2011 case file II CSK 431/10 held that the court cannot order an apology for the violation of dignity, if the plaintiff requested for the protection of other personal interests, in this case her reputation and right to privacy. Moreover, the Supreme Court ruled that the second instance court improperly ordered the form of publication of an apology because it did not take into account technical requirements and the costs associated with it. The Supreme Court reversed the judgment and sent the case back for reconsideration.

Labour law, case II PK 110/10

February 18th, 2011, Tomasz Rychlicki

The Polish Supreme Court in its judgement of 4 November 2010 case file II PK 110/10 held that single use of the company computer (laptop) for personal use during working hours and the occasional viewing of erotic files outside working hours is not a grave violation, which determines the disciplinary dismissal (termination of an employment agreement/contract).

Categories: Art. 52 §1 pt 1 Labour Code | e-law issues | Polish Labour Code | Polish Supreme Court.