News

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!

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.