News

Issue 1/2022 of Bialystok Legal Studies published an article by Dr. Michał Markiewicz titled: “Public communication of a work on the Internet in EU law (Directive 2001/29 vs. Directive 2019/790) – is there an “identifiable” scope of this right?”. The issues related to the interpretation of the scope of copyright on the Internet are not only, to put it mildly, not obvious, but are further complicated by the implementation of the DSM Directive. In the article the author draws attention inter alia to selected inconsistencies in the case law of the Court of Justice of the EU. We invite you to read. http://bsp.uwb.edu.pl/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/173_Book-BSP-27-nr-1.pdf

On April 25 there was a lecture “Law in the fashion industry” conducted for the project “IP STUDENT”. – Scientific Circle of Intellectual Property Law TBSP UJ by Attorney Zuzanna Ochonska. It is always a great pleasure to share our knowledge with a student audience interested in the topic of regulations in the fashion industry.

CARS took on the difficult topic of the effectiveness of antitrust enforcement. At a seminar on March 30, 2022, speakers from the Netherlands, Lithuania, Poland and the UK discussed this issue. Important legal and organizational barriers were pointed out by Caroline Cauffman, Małgorzata Kozak, Marta Mackiewicz, Jurgita Malinauskaite, Sebastian Peyer, Aleksander Stawicki and Marcin Trepka. Jarosław Sroczyński discussed the passing-on allegation as a potential “circuit breaker” of infringers’ liability in chain-selling cases. Thanks to Dominik Wolski for the invitation and organization of the Seminar, Anna Laszczyk for moderating “my” session, and Maciej Bernatt for the keynote.

Markiewicz & Sroczynski as the best law firm in the FORBES Best Law Firms 2022 ranking in two areas: Antitrust / Competition and Intellectual Property. Thank you for the distinction! “The Best Law Firms Poland 2022 list is based on recommendations cast by lawyers working in law firms (peer to peer survey) and business clients (e.g. in-house lawyers in corporate legal departments) in 24 different areas of law. https://www.forbes.pl/prawo-i-podatki/najlepsze-kancelarie-w-polsce-2022-polands-best-law-firms-2022-lista-magazynu-forbes/qpw9nm4

The Sped-Pro ruling has sparked a lively discussion. Prawo.pl publishes today several statements, including mine, and Professor Bernatt also spoke. Will the verdict shake UOKiK? This question comes to mind after reading some of the comments. Let us look at the matter with a cool eye. The two-stage test from case C-216/18 PPU applies to the rule of law. In the first stage, systemic irregularities are examined. In the second, whether in the circumstances of the case the trader will be exposed to a risk of illegality. The Commission did not carry out the analysis at the first stage, but the General Court did not question this (paragraphs 94 and 95 of the judgment). It only questioned the laconic nature of the Commission’s statement at the second stage as to the circumstantial evidence provided by Sped-Pro. The General Court also confirmed the Union’s lack of interest in pursuing the proceedings. The significance of the judgment may therefore be partisan. This does not mean that everything is ok with the systemic rule of law. In particular, the lack of tenure of the president and the lack of judicial review of the refusal to initiate proceedings are problems. My comments on these issues in the article on Prawo.pl https://www.prawo.pl/biznes/wyrok-sadu-ue-niezaleznosc-uokik-pod-znakiem-zapytania,513589.html

We started the New Year with a meeting with an extraordinary audience – the participants of the MBA in Corporate Governance programme organised at the University of Economics in Katowice. On 9 January 2022, Zuzanna Ochońska conducted classes on practical aspects of personal data protection. The meeting resulted in a very interesting exchange of experience and discussion on data protection in various organisations. We would like to thank the Organisers for the invitation and the Participants for their involvement.

We have the pleasure to announce that on 10 January 2022, Anna Pietrzyk has been sworn as an Advocate Trainee of the Cracow Bar Association. Congratulations!