AUTHORIZATION IN THE POLISH PRESS LAW

Abstract

Since 1984, there have been regulations in the Polish press law under which the publication of verbatim statements of a person provided to the press depends on the consent of the person who made such a statement (authorization). These statements may have a creative nature on many occasions which is subject to the regimen of copyright.The scientific purpose of the article focuses on the problem of the influence of regulations on authorization adopted in 2007 on the right to the paternity of a work. The author regards as creativity, under certain conditions, not only a press article but also original statements made to the press. Thus, the specified problem concerns the borderline area between the press law and the copyright.An analysis of regulations which were in force until 2007, including an analysis of the legal status of statements that are subject to authorization and analysis of changes introduced to the authorization law in 2007 together with analysis of the legal status of statements subject to authorization will be used to solve the problem. The author indicates, moreover, circumstances which must be present for a statement made to the press to be regarded as a work protected by copyright and discusses the right to the paternity of the work in the context of statements made to the press. The author uses the dogmatic and legal historical method and the method of case law analysis.In the author’s opinion, the introduced changes consolidate the copyright of the person making a statement to the press and if they use the rights to authorization they are entitled to.