News

From September 23 to 25, 2009 the Congress of Polish Culture was held in Cracow, hosted by the Jagiellonian University. The event, regarded as particularly important for Polish culture, was attended by representatives of the artists’ community, consumers of culture, government representatives and experts. The agenda of the Congress included discussion on three key subjects: Space for Creative Activities, Institutions for Culture, and Culture in Society. Professor Ryszard Markiewicz, listed as one of the “Congress Personalities”, was a moderator of the “Copyright” panel.

On July 28, 2009 Jarosław Sroczyński delivered a presentation in Warsaw for the 35th Academy of Computer Law seminar, entitled “Legal and Fiscal Factors in the Publishing Business”. The subject of the presentation was a case study: “Doomed to Use Empik? The Book Institute Defending Small Publishers against Competition-Restraining Practices”. The seminar, organised by the Centre for the Promotion of Computer Science, was mainly attended by representatives of publishing companies.

In 2009 Lexis-Nexis Publishing House published a monograph by Dr. Karolina Włodarska-Dziurzyńska entitled “Sankcje w prawie konsumenckim na przykładzie wybranych umów” (“Sanctions in consumer law in selected contracts”).

Jarosław Sroczyński was a participant in the academic conference on “Copyright and Competition Law”, held on June 3, 2009 in Poznań by the Faculty of Law at the Higher School of Social Sciences and the Faculty of Law and Administration at the Adam Mickiewicz University. During the conference, Mr. Sroczyński presented a paper entitled “The Confrontation between Copyright and Competition Law in the Decisions Issued by the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection”. The conference was attended by representatives of the academic community, the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection, copyright collective societies, lawyers and consultants.

On May 20 and 21, 2009 a conference of the Customs Service and the Jagiellonian University was held in Cracow on the role of the Customs Service in combating infringements of intellectual property rights. During the conference, Professors Janusz Barta and Ryszard Markiewicz participated in a panel discussion on “Combating infringements of intellectual property rights in the context of national and EU law, and an international case study”.

On May 5 and 6, 2009, at the Congress Centre in Ossa near Rawa Mazowiecka, the 34th Conference of the Polish Chamber of Electronic Communication (PIKE) was held to inaugurate the celebration of the 20th anniversary of cable television in Poland. During the conference Jarosław Sroczyński participated in a panel discussion on the impact of advertising on consumer awareness and the situation in the mass media industry. The conference was organised under the auspices of Professor Danuta Hübner, the EU Commissioner for Regional Policy, and was attended by representatives of the Senate and the Sejm, the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection, the Office of Electronic Communications and various ministries, mass media, advertising and consulting companies, etc.

A number of our articles have appeared in the journal “Marketing in Practice”. Issue 7/2009 included an article by Jarosław Sroczyński and Lukasz Wieczorek entitled “Non-competition agreements”. In issue 5/2009, Jarosław Sroczyński published an article entitled “Product placement – legal issues”. In issue 2/2009, Lukasz Wieczorek published an article on the subject of “Press law and journalistic ethics and media manipulation. The right to polemics and dementi”.