Digital Revolution & Legal Evolution in Poland

Status quo of the implementation of Directive (EU) 2019/790

To date, this policy has not yet been implemented into Polish law. At the end of July 2021, a total of 23 countries (including Poland) were asked to comment due to non-implementation of the policy. According to Art. 29 para. 1 of the Directive, the Member States were obliged to put the necessary legal and administrative provisions into effect by 7 June 2021 in order to comply with the provisions of the Directive.

The Prime Minister’s Office website includes an announcement dated 8 October 2021, according to which the planned date for the adoption of the Implementation Act is the second quarter of 2022.

National legal framework against computer piracy

Regulations concerning computer piracy (CP) are included in criminal law, among other things. According to Art. 278 § 2 of the Act of 6 June 1997 (StGB (Strafgesetzbuch [German Criminal Code])), anyone who appropriates someone else’s computer program in order to gain a financial advantage is also punished with a term of imprisonment intended for theft. At the civil law level, regulations for combating CP are described in the law of 4 Feb. 1994 on copyright and related property rights, which provides that a rights holder whose copyright rights have been infringed may require a person who has infringed these rights to:

• Refrain from infringing the law;
• Eliminate the consequences of the infringement;
• Provide compensation for the damage incurred;
• Disclose the benefits obtained.

These provisions apply mutatis mutandis to the elimination or circumvention of technical protective measures against access to, reproduction of, or distribution of a work. 

Copyright & NFT (non-fungible tokens)

In Polish law, there are no separate regulations that directly relate to NFTs. Unfortunately, it is often the case that the legislation (not only at the national level) does not keep up with the dynamic technological change and that corresponding regulations are usually only implemented after a longer period of time. Until then, the currently applicable regulations of the law on intellectual property must be used, the correct application of which is not entirely trivial in this case due to the digital nature.