Abstract
With respect to the topic of this article, reference must be made to two extraordinarily important events in recent Polish history: above all to the unusual phenomenon of the 20th century in the form of the major social movement “Solidarnosc”, which triggered radical political changes in Poland and in other countries of eastern and central Europe. The consequence of this movement was the transformation of the centrally controlled economy into an economic system based on private property and competition. Market economy institutions have been created in Poland. The privatisation process of state enterprises has continued without interruption, with the result that today the majority of these businesses are present on the market as private economy enterprises. This event also had extensive consequences for the development of the Polish legal system. This includes the “rebirth” of the Law on the Combating of Unfair Competition, which was devoid of all importance in the period of the centrally controlled real socialist economy. Even though the Law against Unfair Competition of 19261 remained formally in effect, it was enforced neither by the ordinary courts nor by the state arbitration commissions that were responsible for settling disputes between the various state-owned enterprises (i.e. nationalised enterprise, cooperatives, etc.). The situation only changed towards the end of the 1980s. A second historically important event was Poland’s accession to the European Union on May 1, 2004. Irrespective of the important consequence of this fact in the short and long term, Poland’s membership of the EU represents an opportunity to complete the market economy developments of recent years while making use of the collection of legal instruments common to all the Member States of the European Community.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
56 Dziennik Ustaw (Official Gazette) Item 467 (1930).
Skubisz, “Das Recht des unlauteren Wettbewerbs in Polen,” 1994 GRUR Int. 681 et seq.
Uniform text in 153 Dziennik Ustaw (Official Gazette) Item 1503 (2003) with subsequent amendments.
Cf. Skubisz, in: Szwaja, “Ustawa o zwalczaniu nieuczciwej konkurencji. Komentarz (Act on the Combating of Unfair Competition. Commentary)” 621 et seq. (2006). Wiszniewska, “Polskie prawo reklamy (Polish Advertising Law)” 28 et seq. (1998).
Cf. Szwaja, in: Szwaja, supra note 4, at 170 et seq.
Decision of the Warsaw Court of Appeal dated November 14, 1996, I Acr 890/96, 9 OSA Item 36 (1998) — Taxi case.
Decision of the Supreme Court dated February 23, 1995, III CZP 12/95, 5 OSN Item 80 (1995).
Decision of the Supreme Court dated October 20, 1978, IV CR 402/78, 7–8 OSN Item 154 (1979) — Polmozbyt case.
Uniform text in 147 Dziennik Ustaw (Official Gazette) Item 1231 (2002) with amendments.
5 Dziennik Ustaw (Official Gazette) Item 24 (1984).
Uniform text in 4 Dziennik Ustaw (Official Gazette) Item 27 (2004) with amendments.
Uniform text in 253 Dziennik Ustaw (Official Gazette) Item 2531 (2004) with amendments.
10 Dziennik Ustaw (Official Gazette) Item 55 (1996) with amendments.
Uniform text in 111 Dziennik Ustaw (Official Gazette) Item 937 (2005).
Uniform text in 53 Dziennik Ustaw (Official Gazette) Item 533 (2004) with amendments.
31 Dziennik Ustaw (Official Gazette) Item 353 (2001).
144 Dziennik Ustaw (Official Gazette) Item 1204 (2002) with amendments.
166 Dziennik Ustaw (Official Gazette) Item 1362 (2002) with amendments.
78 Dziennik Ustaw (Official Gazette) Item 483 (1997).
173 Dziennik Ustaw (Official Gazette) Item 1807 (2004).
16 Dziennik Ustaw (Official Gazette) Item 93 (1964).
Decision of the Lublin Court of Appeal dated September 30, 1998, 1 Apel. — Lubl. Item 1 (1999).
Decision of the Supreme Court dated February 2, 2001, IV CKN 255/00, 11 OSP Item 162 (2001); comment by Kêpiñski.
On the claims based on Art. 18 of the Act, see Szwaja, in: Szwaja, supra note 4, at 826 et seq; Gadek, “Generalna klauzula odpowiedzialnosci za czyn nieuczciwej konkurencji (Art. 3 u.z.n.k.) (General clause on responsibility for competition torts. Art. 3 Act on the Combating of Unfair Competition)” 164 et seq. (Prace Instytutu Prawa Własnosci Intelektualnej UJ, z. 85) (2003).
43 Dziennik Ustaw (Official Gazette) Item 296 (1964).
22 Dziennik Ustaw (Official Gazette) Item 271 (2000).
141 Dziennik Ustaw (Official Gazette) Item 1176 (2002).
Details in Mozgawa, “Zwalczanie nieuczciwej konkurencji srodkami prawa karnego (Prevention of Unfair Competition with Criminal Law Measures)” (1997).
Uniform text in 80 Dziennik Ustaw (Official Gazette) Item 904 (2000) with amendments.
The Warsaw Appeal Court held that, given that copyright and the Act against Unfair Competition enjoy the same status in the ranking of legal sources, it is to be assumed that the provisions of the Act against Unfair Competition play a supplementary role in the sense that they provide the protection of the law outside copyright law, and the claims deriving from the Act against Unfair Competition can be asserted if a third party infringes the rights in any manner other than that regulated by the scope of application of copyright law. One form of unfair competition was the attempt to exploit the image or achievements of another where the infringing party acts unlawfully (decision of the Warsaw Court of Appeal dated December 8, 1994, I ACr 789/94). The Supreme Court held that the conduct of a radio broadcaster can be regarded as unfair competition if it satisfies the conditions of the general clause of the Act against Unfair Competition (decision of the Supreme Court dated February, 23 1995, III CZP 12/95, III CZP 12/95, 5 OSN Item 80 (1995), 3 OSP Item 55 (1996) with in part critical comments by Czajkowska-Dąbrowska, 9–10 Palestra 189 (1995) with critical comments by Kasprzyk).
Uniform text in 119 Dziennik Ustaw (Official Gazette) Item 1117 (2003) with amendments.
Decision of the Supreme Court dated November 28, 1998, No. I CKN 904/97, 5 OSNC Item 97 (1997); in part acknowledging the comments by Kêpiñski on this decision: 59 OSP Item 91 (1999).
Cf. Skubisz, “Prawo znaków towarowych. Komentarz (Trade Mark Law, Commentary)” 287 et seq. (1997). In judicial practice see for instance decision of the Białystok Court of Appeal dated March 11, 1999, I ACa 430/99, 11–12 OSA Item 57, 92.
Modzelewska-Wąchal, “Ustawa o ochronie konkurencji i konsumentów. Komentarz (Competition and Consumer Protection Act. Commentary)” 11 (2002).
Szwaja, in: Szwaja, supra note 4, at 80.
Skoczny, in: ibid, 555–556.
Modzelewska-Wąchal, supra note 35, at 11. Gronowski, “Polskie prawo antymonopolowe zarys wykładu (Polish Antitrust Law)” 54 (1998); decision of the Competition and Consumer Protection Court dated November 16, 2005 No. XVII Ama 97/04, Dz.Urz.UOKiK of 2006 No. 1 Item 16.
Miąsik, “Reguła rozsądku w prawie antymonopolowym. Studium prawnoporównawcze (The Rule of Reason in Antitrust Law. A Comparative Law Study)” 32 (2004).
Decisions of the Supreme Court dated February 26, 2004 No. III SK 1/04, 18 OSNP 323 (2004) and August 27, 2003 No. I CKN 527/01, unpublished; decisions of the Competition and Consumer Protection Court dated November 16, 2005 No. XVII Ama 97/04, Dz.Urz.UOKiK of 2006 No. 1 Item 16; March 21, 2005 No. XVII Ama 16/04, Dz.Urz.UOKiK of 2005 No. 2 Item 27 and December 1, 2005, No. XVII Ama 69/04, 7–8 Wokanda 104 (2006).
Modzelewska-Wąchal, supra note 35, at 13–14.
Decision of the Supreme Court dated August 27, 2003 No. I CKN 527/01, unpublished; decision of the District Court in Warsaw dated December 11, 1996 No. XVII Ama 59/96, unpublished. For an examination of the case law on public interest, see: Kastelnik, “Pojêcie “interes publiczny” w orzecznictwie Sądu Antymonopolowego (The notion of public interest in the case law of the Antimonopoly Court),” 10 Glosa 13 (2004), at 14.
Decision of the Supreme Court dated February 26, 2004 No. III SK 1/04, 18 OSNP 323 (2004); decisions of the Competition and Consumer Protection Court dated November 16, 2005 No. XVII Ama 97/04, Dz.Urz.UOKiK of 2006 No. 1 Item 16; March 21, 2005 No. XVII Ama 16/04, Dz.Urz.UOKiK of 2005 No. 2 Item 27 and December 1, 2005, No. XVII Ama 69/04, 7–8 Wokanda 104 (2006).
Szwaja, in: Szwaja, supra note 4, at 77–79; Skoczny, ibid, 556–557.
Podrecki, “Stosunek ustawy o zwalczaniu nieuczciwej konkurencji do ustawy o przeciwdziałaniu praktykom monopolistycznym (Relationship between Competition Law and the Act on the Combating of Monopoly Practices)” 23 (1994).
Paris Convention dated March 20, 1883 as amended by the Stockholm Act of July 14, 1967 (9 Dziennik Ustaw (Official Gazette) Item 51 (1975)).
Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property — Schedule 1 c to the Document on the Foundation of the World Trade Organization (WTO) signed in Marrakech on April 15, 1994 (32 Dziennik Ustaw (Official Gazette) Item 143 (1996)).
46 Dziennik Ustaw (Official Gazette) Item 290 (1965).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2007 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Skubisz, R., Szwaja, J. (2007). Poland: Unfair Competition Law. In: Hilty, R.M., Henning-Bodewig, F. (eds) Law Against Unfair Competition. MPI Studies on Intellectual Property, Competition and Tax Law, vol 1. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-71882-6_16
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-71882-6_16
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-71881-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-71882-6
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawLaw and Criminology (R0)