| In Principle

A bill has been released recently regulating the minimum distance for a planned development project in the agricultural sector if it might generate an odour. The proposal comes in light of an increasing number of complaints and motions about odours given off by animal care and breeding facilities.

In a judgment of 21 March 2019 (C-443/17) the CJEU reiterated the need for a precise and concise interpretation of the term “protected product” under Regulation (EC) 469/2009 concerning the supplementary protection certificate for medicinal products. The CJEU stressed that this term only applies to an active ingredient of a medicinal product, and not combination with other substances that do not have an independent therapeutic effect.

The debate about whether implementing and enforcing a compliance programme is a general legal obligation is nothing new. Compliance is a tool for managing an organisation’s operational processes, preventing wrongdoing, and mitigating liability. For this reason, it is an element of the duty to exercise due diligence, with penalties not only of a criminal nature.

When assessing the post-war legal status of buildings erected on land subject to the Warsaw Decree, there is currently greater focus on the circumstances surrounding wartime destruction of buildings and the fact that decree-related proceedings are ongoing. This is intended to take away or restrict ownership title to “budynki piątkowe” – buildings fulfilling requirements under Art. 5 of the Warsaw (Bierut) Decree. Meanwhile, the structure of a “decree building” is a refined legal concept that needs to be viewed in the context of laws and case law in effect at the time.

The authorities have 12 months to issue certificates confirming the conversion of perpetual usufruct into ownership (2 January 2020 is the deadline for issuing them). Therefore, the parliament has established a transitional provision according to which the fee for 2019 is to be paid by 29 February 2020. However, is it worth taking advantage of this extension? And will the high discount for conversion continue to be applicable? What about the property tax—will it also change?

The Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Technology has submitted a long-awaited draft of the Act on Compensation for Energy-Intensive Industries in relation to the rising costs of climate policy.

One of the basic items that will probably be secured during a law enforcement search is a mobile phone or other electronic device, if there is a “reasonable suspicion” that it may contain information proving that a criminal act has been committed. Mobile phones are an attractive source of information about the holder’s life which investigators can then use as evidence. But what about the confidentiality of correspondence?

Sport is an increasingly important sector of the economy. It is a significant contributor to GDP. It attracts massive capital investment and is a source of livelihood for many service providers and employees. Industrial relations in the sport sector are therefore subject to intensifying scrutiny, especially in jurisdictions where the sector is still developing and in the process of professionalisation. But sport-specific industrial relations also have certain peculiarities that make them intriguing in the discussion of employment market trends in the modern economy.

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.

One of the changes in the amendment of the Industrial Property Law is that there will no longer be a graphical presentation requirement for trademarks. From 16 March 2019, it is possible for trademarks to be presented in any form using generally available technology, provided that they are presented in a clear, precise, independent, understandable, durable, objective, and easily accessible manner.

An amendment to the Industrial Property Law has led to changes regarding particular types of trademarks such as collective marks and guarantee marks. Collective marks were included in the previous version of the act, but the guarantee mark is something new, replacing the collective guarantee mark. This will have certain implications for businesses.

A licensee’s right to bring a legal action in proceedings for infringement of a trademark was introduced by the amendment to the Industrial Property Law. So far, in the case of national trademarks, only an exclusive licensee entered in the register could pursue claims for trademark infringement on an equal footing with the proprietor. This has changed from 16 March 2019.