Ewa Nagy | In Principle

New rules for interim relief in intellectual property cases in Poland entered into force on 1 July 2023. The changes are designed to address practical problems of businesses and eliminate earlier abuses of interim relief. But the amendment raises doubts and seems to heighten the procedural formalism.

Soon, another major amendment to the Polish Civil Procedure Code will enter into force, particularly affecting holders of intellectual property rights. The amendment will change the existing rules on interim injunction proceedings, which are typically used in intellectual property cases prior to filing a statement of claim. These changes will come into effect on 1 July 2023. Significant changes have also been made in the provisions on judicial enforcement, already in force since 15 April 2023.

The European unitary patent and the new patent court: What should Polish businesses know, and is there anything to fear?
 

In 2017, the possibility of obtaining a doctoral degree under an industrial doctoral programme was introduced in Poland. This is designed to support innovation by facilitating cooperation between business and universities and scientific research institutes. The doctoral dissertation prepared under the programme is intended to improve the operations of a specific company or solve a technological problem faced by the company employing the doctoral student.

There is no single recipe for success in the video game market, but some causes of problems at the distribution stage are clear. In this article, we take a cultural and historical look at the content of games. These aspects may force the producer to introduce changes in such areas as quests or a character’s appearance or “skin.” It is not always enough to meticulously analyse the game content for intellectual property issues. Sometimes it will be better to abandon some content ideas or even create several versions of a game, adapting the content to the market where the game is to be distributed.

In our series we have addressed the issue of protecting a video game against cloning in the context of lack of legal protection for an idea for a game. In this article, we will take a broader look at this problem.

A typical bicycle has two wheels of equal size, handlebars, a frame, and a chain drive for the rear wheel. But do individual bicycle models deserve copyright protection? And if so, what factors determine whether they are granted such protection? These questions were addressed by the Court of Justice of the European Union in a judgment delivered on 11 June 2020.

In previous articles in our series we discussed whether data can be subject to property rights or can be protected within known categories of intangibles. Today we will consider if and when data can be protected as a trade secret.

Is the creativity of video game developers limited by architects’ rights to the image of their buildings erected in public space?

In the fifth part of our series, we focus on the provision allowing interested parties to verify whether actions they have planned or undertaken infringe the exclusive rights of others. A claim seeking a declaration of non-infringement is an example of a preventive measure heading off filing of an infringement action by the holder of IP rights. This measure allows litigants to obtain judicial confirmation of the legality of their own actions in terms of respect for the intellectual property rights of competitors.

In our latest article on intellectual property courts, we discuss the provision enabling defendants to assert claims in their defence against claims of infringement of trademarks and industrial designs. Currently, it is possible to file a counterclaim seeking invalidation or revocation only in the case of EU trademarks (Regulation (EU) 2017/1001) and Community designs (Regulation (EC) 6/2002). This will change from 1 July 2002, when defendants will be allowed to file such counterclaims also in proceedings in Poland involving national IP rights.

In our series of articles on IP courts, we cover the key changes under the amendment to the Civil Procedure Code in cases involving protection of intellectual property. We previously wrote about introduction of the new separate procedure and on applications to preserve, present and disclose evidence. Now we analyse the most important changes involving information claims.