Polish law on copyright and related rights and the lesson of sharing

Abstract

The objective of this article is to provide an insight into Polish copyright law in a broader context of addressing new technologies and market development. The article starts with an introduction on general principles in Polish copyright law. The analysis then moves on to explain the structure of the Polish Act on Copyright and Related Rights of 1994 and its basic concepts, focusing on key issues such as the object of protection, the right holder, the scope of moral and economic rights and guidance to the provisions on permitted use. To the extent justified by the impact EU law on the Polish regulation, selected judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) are also taken into account. The major interpretational problems encountered by Polish courts and Polish legal doctrine require a recourse to EU law. In some situations, as explained in the article, the problem linked to the interpretation and application of the Polish Copyright Act is a result of CJEU’s dynamic interpretation of the provisions of EU law. Based on the analysis of the key provisions of Polish copyright law, the article attempts to explain how the shared concerns are approached in the application of copyright law. For example, various explanations are offered in the legal doctrine on how to understand the conditions of originality and individual character, and whether and how to distinguish one from another, without unequivocal conclusions. Another problem illustrated here is the necessity to assess ad casum every result of an activity, rather than the general type of expression, like lectures, or school lessons. This case law however may shape the general approach to such a category of potential works. It is also clear that the provisions of a contract do not have a normative effect on granting protection, which depends on the factual assessment.