CYBERSQUATTING
T e main national legal act on trademark protection is the Law on Industrial Property. T e other main Polish and Community legal acts in force in Poland, regarding anti-counterfeiting or piracy on the Internet, are:
• Th e Civil Code (governing company names and their protection);
• Th e Act on Combating Unfair Competition Practices; and
• Th e Copyright Law.
Protection of IP rights against cybersquatters and the enforcement of rights require a creative approach due to the fact that infringers continue testing brand owners. The issue is how to act quickly and efficiently against those who try to take advantage of third party rights on the Internet.
It is not always straightforward to deal with a ‘cybersquatter’, but in Poland, a raft of remedies is available. Jaromir Piwowar and Bartek Kochlewski take a look.
If the domain owner has its place of residence in Poland the traditional venue for resolving domain names disputes in Poland is the Arbitration Court at the Polish Chamber of Information Technology and Telecommunication (PCITT), or the Court of Arbitration at the Polish Chamber of Commerce (PCC). Th e proceedings before those arbitration courts are similar to the proceedings conducted under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP). From a practical perspective we can say that the Court of Arbitration at the PCC has not resolved many domain name disputes. Over the years the Arbitration Court at the PCITT has become the main forum in Poland for resolving such disputes.
T e advantages of litigation before this court include the speed of the proceedings—usually the Arbitration Court hands down verdicts following in-chamber sessions without the participation of the parties based on documents delivered by the parties. T e procedure is also less formal compared with proceedings before the common courts, and cases are examined by professionals who specialise in IP and IT.
Common courts are the alternative to the Arbitration Court at the PCITT—in particular, for Community Trademark infringements, the Court for the Community Trademarks and Designs in Warsaw. Th e advantages of litigation before the common courts include the possibility of obtaining an interim injunction under which the website operating under an infringing domain name may be taken down as a preventive measure imposed by the court. T e enforceability of the injunction may be problematic, but the obstacles should not prevent IP rights holders from applying for such temporary measures and exercising their rights to the maximum.
www.worldipreview.com Trademarks Brands and the Internet Volume 1, Issue 1 49
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