News

Markiewicz & Sroczyński GP was again named a recommended law firm in this year’s Global Competition Review ranking of 100 global competition law practices.

December has started with a workshop of the 13th edition of “IP Student”! Zuzanna Ochońska worked with students on practical aspects of writing lawsuits in unfair competition cases. Now the students are working on their own, facing interesting and not easy cases, preparing their lawsuits. In March 2022, we would like to invite all program participants to attend a lecture conducted by Zuzanna Ochońska, “Fashion Law”. This is a timely topic, because the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) has recently taken a strong stance on influencers. Quoting from the organizers: “IP Student is a series of workshops on intellectual property law and new technologies. IP Student workshops are organized by the Society of Intellectual Property Law at the Faculty of Law and Administration of the Jagiellonian University in cooperation with K. Tusiński, attorney-at-law”.

Markiewicz & Sroczyński GP and Jarosław Sroczyński recommended in the field of COMPETITION & ANTITRUST in the international Client Choice 2021 ranking organised by Lexology. From the organisers “Established in 2005, Client Choice recognises those law firms and partners worldwide that demonstrate excellence in client service and quality. The criteria for this award focus on the ability to add real value to a client’s business beyond other market participants. Uniquely, law firms and partners can only be nominated by professionals.” Huge congratulations to all the awardees! Full Client Choiche 2021 ranking available behind the link: https://www.lexology.com/clientchoice?g=workarea&j=Poland&p=1&ps=50&w=Competition%20%26%20Antitrust

The 24th edition of the International Book Fair in Krakow, i.e. four special days for authors and literature lovers, is behind us. We would like to thank the organisers, and in particular Ms Ewa Usowicz, editor-in-chief of Prawo.pl, a service provided by Wolters Kluwer, for organising an interesting discussion with the participation of experts from our team: Prof. Ryszard Markiewicz and Dr Sybil Stanislawska-Kloc, as well as the Head of the Intellectual Property Law Department of the Jagiellonian University, Prof. Andrzej Matlak. The discussion touched on many important copyright issues, and the inspiration for this meeting was the Wolters Kluwer publication “Copyright. The meeting was inspired by the Wolters Kluwer publication “Copyright Acts. Commentaries”, edited by Prof. Ryszard Markiewicz. Among the co-authors of the mentioned commentaries are the following lawyers from the M&S team: dr Michał Markiewicz, dr Sybilla Stanisławska – Kloc, dr hab. Michał Wyrwiński and dr Jakub Chwalba.

Recruitment for the 13th Edition of IP Student is behind us. Congratulations to all applicants – this year’s edition promises to be more than interesting! All persons interested in intellectual property law are particularly encouraged to participate in the workshops (Writing claims in unfair competition cases) and the lecture (Law in the fashion industry) conducted by a specialist from our team – Zuzanna Ochońska.

To quote from the organisers: “IP Student is a series of workshops on intellectual property law and new technologies. The IP Student workshop is organised by the Scientific Circle of the Society of Intellectual Property Law Supporters of the Jagiellonian University at the Faculty of Law and Administration of the Jagiellonian University […]”

Secrets, secrets… Jarosław Sroczyński (in the A2B relation, i.e. OCCP-entrepreneur) talked about them at the workshop on protection of intangible resources of a company. Thanks to the organiser MMC Poland and the Participants.

For nearly a decade we have been conducting in Markiewicz and Sroczyński cases of the so-called shelf charges as acts of unfair competition. Most often we defend against allegations that quantity discounts are prohibited (according to the sales principle: you buy more, you get a lower price per item). Often these discounts can only be settled retroactively, because it is not known in advance how much goods will be purchased by the chain of shops. This is where suppliers’ claims most often come into play. We are witnessing the evolution of judgments in these cases. Jarosław Sroczyński and Marcin Mioduszewski, legal adviser, also made a commentary on Article 15(1)(4) (and other provisions) of the Act on Combating Unfair Competition for Wolters Kluwer Polska. The current line of jurisprudence is well over 90% of retrospective discounts admitted. In a case in which we represented a retail chain, last Friday the Court of Appeal in Warsaw again found in favour of us, stating that such a rebate on turnover is not prohibited. However, for the first time the court referred, and approvingly, to our argument (Marcin Mioduszewski, Jarosław Sroczyński, Klaudia Wojakowska-Grochot and Zuza Ochońska) that negotiating a rebate is not an obligation at all. In other words: the retail chain, can simply present its offer or sales conditions, to which the supplier will agree or not (adhesion contract). Perhaps business logic dictates that this should be the case, but in the case law of the courts this has not been so obvious. https://www.wolterskluwer.com/pl-pl/solutions/lex