Kępiński Jakub, Cumulative protection in the case of works of applied art/industrial designs. Should a cemetery candle be protected by the Polish copyright law?

Artykuły
Opublikowano: ZNUJ. PPWI 2018/1/5-20
Autor:
Rodzaj: artykuł

Cumulative protection in the case of works of applied art/industrial designs. Should a cemetery candle be protected by the Polish copyright law?

The presented gloss is intended to explain the position adopted by the Polish Supreme Court (Sąd Najwyższy – hereinafter „SC”) in its Judgment of 6 March 2014 in case V CSK 202/13 regarding the granting of copyright in the case of a cemetery (grave) candle.

The ruling of the SC and its justification were wrong and give rise to many doubts. Because the SC accorded copyright protection to a cemetery candle with a negligible level of creativity and individuality, it would be difficult to imagine an industrial design that would be denied copyright protection under Polish legislation as a work of applied art. This interpretation cannot be accepted.

The system of full cumulative protection is not a perfect system and gives rise to various problems. It seems that in the case of industrial designs, protection given for a maximum of 25 years is sufficient for the return of expenditure made by the eligible entity. It is not appropriate to grant them such a long-lasting copyright protection. Thus, nowadays Polish Courts have a special role to play. They should apply a more restrictive interpretation of the conditions of creativity and individuality with reference to all manifestations of human creative activity.

Pełna treść dostępna po zalogowaniu do LEX