Anna Pompe | In Principle

Catchphrases are intriguing not only as a phenomenon of social communication. They can also develop an economic dimension if they have marketing appeal. Consumers eagerly purchase T-shirts and gadgets decorated with amusing sayings, as a medium for expressing their own personality and preferences. What counts in this situation is to be the first to register the phrase.

An amendment to the Industrial Property Law took effect on 16 March 2019, transposing into Polish law the Trademark Directive (2015/2436). The amendment is not revolutionary but will certainly have huge practical implications.

According to figures from KPMG, the alcoholic beverages market in Poland was worth about PLN 57 billion in 2016, and its value is growing year on year. The industry is of great economic importance, providing numerous jobs and offering a major sales outlet for agricultural production. The selection of the topic for today’s edition is no accident. We believe that developments on the market may cause certain models for protection of intellectual property to grow in importance—alongside growing threats to those rights. We discuss them here from the practical side.

Changes to the EU’s trademark regulations entered into force on 1 October 2017, recognising for the first time multimedia marks combining image and sound. They may consist for example of animations launched in mobile devices or apps, jingles from film studios, brief video clips, and so on.

An interview with Anna Pompe, a partner at Wardyński & Partners, co-head of the Intellectual Property practice group