Recent news
Save the Music with the Law - lectures by Dr. Aleksandra Sewerynik
The Save the Music project is a social campaign initiated by Dr. Marlena Wieczorek and run by the MEAKULTURA Foundation[1], aimed at protecting and promoting European musical heritage, including showing the influence of music on world and human history and supporting its intellectual and social development. The project's website offers a wealth of educational resources, such as publications, recordings and lectures on the musical traditions of various regions of Europe.
Marketplace manager liable for fakes sold at the marketplace
Dispute over counterfeits at capital's marketplace - New Precedent in a landlord case
The Court of Appeal in Warsaw has handed down a landmark judgment in a case concerning the protection of EU trademark rights. The subject of the dispute was the activity of a popular marketplace in the capital city, where products bearing counterfeit trademarks of our clients were notoriously traded. The judgment, which was handed down on 21 May 2024 (ref. no. VII AGa 1048/23), is the first ruling in Poland in which the responsibility for trade in counterfeits was also imposed on the manager of the marketplace, and not only on individual sellers.
Marketplace manager's liability
To date, cases involving trade in counterfeits have mainly focused on the direct perpetrators, i.e. the sellers of counterfeit goods. In this case, the Court of Appeal extended liability to the manager of the marketplace, considering him to be an intermediary whose services were used to infringe intellectual property rights. The Court held that there were no grounds to make the liability of an intermediary such as a market hall manager conditional on intentional fault. Even the lack of awareness of infringements does not absolve the intermediary from liability as long as the intermediary does not take any real action to prevent such infringements.
Royalties for streaming - what changes will the amendment to the Copyright and Related Rights Act introduce?
After months of deliberations, discussions, and industry protests, the national legislator has adopted an amendment to the Copyright and Related Rights Act ("Copyright Act"), granting creators and performers the long-awaited right to remuneration for the public online distribution of their works. The new provisions will take effect on September 20, 2024.
