CRIMINAL PROTECTION OF TRADEMARKS RELATED TO THE OLYMPIC GAMES

        Intellectual property rights, especially trademarks, played an important role in organization and promotion of the Olympic Games and commercial exploitation of sport. In fact, without granting intellectual property rights related to the Olympic Games there would be nothing to be exploited and nothing to commercialize as well as no income would be generated. If there were no financial returns the sport events would not look like this these days.        As still growing part of economic value of sport is connected with intellectual property rights the protection of symbols and names related to the Olympic movement has become an important issue as it is essential for the proper functioning of the Olympic movement and efficient conducting of the next Olympic Games.        One of the research issues is an attempt to answer the question if it was right to place by the Polish legislator the petty offence consisting in the unlawful use of the Olympic symbols in the act on sport, or if it should be placed in the Petty Offence Code or should only be protected within the regulation of the act on Industrial Property Right, acts on Suppression Unfair Competition or the act on Copyrights and Related rights.        In Author’s opinion placing the discussed type of offence in the act on sport was the right solution. It seems so, due to the fact that the character of this offence corresponds to the specificity of the matter regulated by this act. Thus the criminal regulations of the act on sport form a consistent whole and they comprehensively regulate the given matter.        Critical remarks can be made in relation to the quality of the discussed regulation. In the first place, a change in features of the infraction in question made as part of regulations of the act on sport, consisting of adding the phrase “for commercial purposes” should be assessed critically. In this scope de lege ferenda one should be in favour of coming back to the previous legal state, which did not differentiate the unlawful use of the Olympic symbols in respect of the purpose or form.        In the article the following research methods were used: comparative method, the method of systemic analysis and the historical method. The research was based on prescriptive acts, comments and the Polish and foreign literature

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) – Revolution Coming to European Data Protection Laws in 2018. What’s New for Ordinary Citizens?

This Article concerns the EU data protection reform which will come into effect from 25th of May 2018 and will be directly applicable in all Member States. The EU data protection reform aims to build a modern and comprehensive data protection framework for the European Union. The GDPR makes a number of changes in data protection laws, e.g. it introduces new obligations for data controllers and processors, brings new status and new tasks for Data Protection Officers (DPOs), gives more rights to data subjects and most importantly completely changes the perception of data protection law by introducing rules such as privacy by design, privacy by default. The Author describes selected changes, in general, from the viewpoint of an ordinary citizen

„Nieredukowalne dożywocie” - kilka uwag na temat nowej instytucji zakazu warunkowego przedterminowego zwolnienia z odbycia reszty kary dożywotniego pozbawienia wolności w polskim prawie karnym

This article concerns the prohibition of conditional early release from serving the remainder of a life sentence, which was introduced into the Polish Criminal Code. The so-called "irreducible life imprisonment" is a violation of the prohibition of inhuman treatment under the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, as the European Court of Human Rights has repeatedly reminded. The author presents selected case law of the Court in this regard and analyzes it in terms of Polish solutions. As a result, she comes to the conclusion that the adopted solutions not only contradict the Convention, but also have no substantive justification in view of the systematically falling crime rate in Poland, constituting only and exclusively the implementation of a new, repressive and populist criminal policy.Niniejszy artykuł dotyczy zakazu warunkowego przedterminowego zwolnienia z odbycia reszty kary dożywotniego pozbawienia wolności, który został wprowadzony do polskiego kodeksu karnego. Tzw. „Nieredukowalne dożywocie” jest naruszeniem zakazu nieludzkiego traktowaniem w świetle Konwencji o Ochronie Praw Człowieka i Podstawowych Wolności, o czym wielokrotnie przypominał Europejski Trybunał Praw Człowieka. Autorka przedstawia wybrane orzecznictwo Trybunału w tym zakresie i analizuje je pod kątem polskich rozwiązań. W efekcie dochodzi do wniosku, że przyjęte rozwiązania są nie tylko sprzeczne z Konwencją, ale również nie mają żadnego uzasadnienia merytorycznego przy systematycznie spadającej przestępczości w Polsce, stanowiąc tylko i wyłączenia realizację nowej, represyjnej i populistycznej polityki kryminalnej

(rev.): Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights through Border Measures: Law and Practice in the EU, Olivier Vrins and Marius Schneider (eds.), Oxford 2012

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(rev.): Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights through Border Measures: Law and Practice in the EU, Olivier Vrins and Marius Schneider (eds.), Oxford 2012

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(rev.) Nonie Darwish, Okrucieństwo w majestacie prawa. Prześladowanie kobiet w świecie islamu [Cruel and Usual Punishment: The Terrifying Global Implications of Islamic Law, Nashville 2008], KEFAS Publishing House, Warszawa 2011

Full text: http://bazhum.muzhp.pl/czasopismo/589/?idno=1476

Criminal Law and Criminological Aspects of the Plagiarism

The article consists of two parts. In the first, the author discusses the criminal law aspects of the crime under Art. 115 paragraph 1 of the Act on Copyright and Related Rights. The second part presents the results of empirical research. In order to learn the dynamics of convictions over the years, characteristics of perpetrators and types of punishments imposed by courts, the author collected and developed statistical data obtained from the Ministry of Justice. In order to examine the factual circumstances of plagiarism cases, as well as the correctness of the legal classification of offenses used by the courts, the author conducted a case study. The research covered cases ended with a final conviction in 2013–2017. The summary includes comments regarding problems with the legal classification of infringements of copyright and related rights as well as de lege ferenda postulates

The ban on assemblies in Poland during the epidemic and criminal liability

Na przestrzeni 16 miesięcy stanu zagrożenia epidemicznego, a następnie stanu epidemii władza wykonawcza wprowadzała restrykcyjne ograniczenia w sferze wolności zgromadzeń, okresowo całkowicie ich zakazując. Niezależnie od wprowadzanych zakazów we wskazanym okresie dochodziło do licznych protestów i demonstracji wywoływanych lockdownem, polityką władzy, czy wyrokiem Trybunału Konstytucyjnego z 22 października 2020 r. Autorka próbuje odpowiedzieć na pytanie czy wprowadzane przez władzę wykonawczą zakazy i ograniczenia w zakresie organizowania lub udziału w zgromadzeniach spełniały standard konstytucyjny, a jeśli nie, to czy zachowania organizatorów lub uczestników zgromadzeń stanowiące realizację ich konstytucyjnych wolności mogły wypełniać znamiona określonych wykroczeń lub przestępstw. W tym celu Autorka analizuje m.in. orzeczenia sądów powszechnych, a także wyrok Sądu Najwyższego z 1 lipca 2021 r.During the 16 months of the epidemic threat, and then the state of the epidemic, the executive authority introduced restrictive restrictions in the area of freedom of assembly, periodically forbidding them completely. Regardless of the bans introduced, during the indicated period, there were numerous protests and demonstrations triggered by the lockdown, government policy or the judgment of the Constitutional Tribunal of October 22, 2020. The author tries to answer the question whether the bans and restrictions introduced by the executive met the constitutional standard, and if not, whether the behavior of organizers or participants of assemblies constituting the implementation of their constitutional freedoms could fulfill the criteria of specific offenses or crimes. For this purpose, the author analyzes, inter alia, judgments of common courts, as well as the judgment of the Supreme Court of July 1, 2021

CRIMINAL PROTECTION OF TRADEMARKS RELATED TO THE OLYMPIC GAMES

        Intellectual property rights, especially trademarks, played an important role in organization and promotion of the Olympic Games and commercial exploitation of sport. In fact, without granting intellectual property rights related to the Olympic Games there would be nothing to be exploited and nothing to commercialize as well as no income would be generated. If there were no financial returns the sport events would not look like this these days.        As still growing part of economic value of sport is connected with intellectual property rights the protection of symbols and names related to the Olympic movement has become an important issue as it is essential for the proper functioning of the Olympic movement and efficient conducting of the next Olympic Games.        One of the research issues is an attempt to answer the question if it was right to place by the Polish legislator the petty offence consisting in the unlawful use of the Olympic symbols in the act on sport, or if it should be placed in the Petty Offence Code or should only be protected within the regulation of the act on Industrial Property Right, acts on Suppression Unfair Competition or the act on Copyrights and Related rights.        In Author’s opinion placing the discussed type of offence in the act on sport was the right solution. It seems so, due to the fact that the character of this offence corresponds to the specificity of the matter regulated by this act. Thus the criminal regulations of the act on sport form a consistent whole and they comprehensively regulate the given matter.        Critical remarks can be made in relation to the quality of the discussed regulation. In the first place, a change in features of the infraction in question made as part of regulations of the act on sport, consisting of adding the phrase “for commercial purposes” should be assessed critically. In this scope de lege ferenda one should be in favour of coming back to the previous legal state, which did not differentiate the unlawful use of the Olympic symbols in respect of the purpose or form.        In the article the following research methods were used: comparative method, the method of systemic analysis and the historical method. The research was based on prescriptive acts, comments and the Polish and foreign literature.</p

Lenkijos teisėsaugos ir teismų veikla kovojant su prekių padirbinėjimu

The phenomenon of product counterfeiting, including especially medicinal products, has been on increase, not only contributing to growing losses of the right- holders, but primarily constituting an increasing threat to consumers and safety of the country. Counterfeiting significantly reduces the revenue from taxes and fees; there are more and more reports about the fatal consequences of the use of counterfeited goods, especially drugs, dietary supplements, mechanical and electronic devices. The dynamic character of the phenomenon of product counterfeiting is reflected not only in the continuing increase in the amount of counterfeited products on the market and the diversification of the categories of the counterfeited products, which results in a situation where all the products available in the economic trade have their counterfeited equivalents, but also in new trends in the fields of manufacture and distribution. Furthermore goods counterfeiting is related to the growth of crime by engaging organized crime and its connection with other serious crimes, including money laundering, human trafficking and enabling illegal immigration, frauds, and terrorism. In Poland the significance and seriousness of the problem of goods and medicinal products counterfeiting, as well as legal penal instruments to prevent it, are not sufficiently recognized by the legislation or the practice. Goods counterfeiting remains beyond the control of the law enforcement, its prevention remains a façade, and the undertaken actions are conducted ad hoc, without a well-thought wider plan. Article is based on the Author’s doctoral thesis (“Criminal protection of trademarks”, Toruń 2015, unpublished, written under the academic supervision of Professor Andrzej Adamski), which was dedicated to the analysis of the phenomenon of goods counterfeiting from the criminological and legal perspective (regulations regarding the criminal protection of trademarks in the international, EU, British, German, French, Italian, and Polish law were the subjects of the research). An important part of the thesis was the empirical research connected to the practice of Polish law enforcement and the judiciary in terms of cases tried under Article 305 of the act on Industrial Property Law legally closed between 2007 and 2014. It included statistical research, case records studies, and individual in-depth interviews with police officers, customs officers, and prosecutors. The conducted case records studies regarded cases from the District Court in Piaseczno (however vital its role is), while the individual in-depth interviews encompasses officers from two police units (Departments for Fighting Economic Crime of the Metropolitan Police Authority and the County Police in Piaseczno), one unit of Customs Service (Department for Fighting Crime), and a prosecutor from one Prosecutor’s Office (District Public Prosecutor's Office in Piaseczno).Produktų, ypač vaistinių produktų, klastojimo fenomeno mastai vis didėja, turint omenyje ne tik augančius teisėtų savininkų nuostolius, bet pirmiausia vis augančią grėsmę vartotojų ir šalies saugumui. Šis klastojimas reikšmingai sumažina biudžeto pajamas, gaunamas iš mokesčių bei rinkliavų; taipogi yra daugybė pranešimų apie mirtinas pasekmes, kurias sukėlė suklastotų prekių naudojimas ar vartojimas: ypač vartojant suklastotus vaistus, dietinius papildus, naudojant mechaninius ir elektroninius prietaisus. Šis fenomenas pasireiškia ne tik ekonominėje rinkoje, kuomet kone visi prieinami produktai turi savo lygiavertes klastotes, bet ir pramonėje bei platinimo procese. Be to, prekių klastojimas yra susijęs ir su organizuoto nusikalstamumo veikimu šioje srityje ir apima daug susijusių nusikaltimų, tokių kaip pinigų plovimas, prekyba žmonėmis, nelegali imigracija, sukčiavimas ir terorizmas. Lenkijoje prekių ir vaistinių produktų klastojimo problemos reikšmė ir rimtumas, dar nėra pakankamai pripažinti teisėkūroje ar praktikoje, baudžiamieji instrumentai skirti kovai su šia problema atitinkamai nėra pakankami.. Prekių klastojimas lieka už įstatymo ribų, prevencijos klausimas taip pat nėra išspręstas, o atliekami veiksmai yra ad hoc be jokio gerai apgalvoto plano