This is an informal case summary prepared for the purposes of facilitating exchange during the 2024 WIPO IP Judges Forum.
Session 5: Copyright Exceptions and Limitations
Court of Appeal in Warsaw, Seventh Division of Intellectual Property and Commercial Law, Poland [2024]: Case No. VII AGa 776/23
Date of judgment: April 23, 2024
Issuing authority: Court of Appeal in Warsaw, Seventh Division of Intellectual Property and Commercial Law
Level of the issuing authority: Appellate Instance
Type of procedure: Judicial (Civil)
Subject matter: Copyright
Plaintiff:
Defendant:
Keywords: Quotation exception, Art. 10 of the Berne Convention, Fair practice, Literary works, Online environment
Basic facts: The Plaintiff is the only heir of renowned Polish writer, scientist, philosopher and futurologist, Stanislaw Lem. The Plaintiff holds all the copyrights to Stanislaw Lem’s literary works.
The County of X (Defendant) has decided to promote Stanislaw Lem’s creations – the year 2021 has been declared by Polish authorities as the year devoted to Stanislaw Lem. Many institutions promoted his artworks at that time.
Defendant used certain short pieces of 5 different Stanislaw Lem’s literary works in an audiovisual performance prepared by a group of young people under the auspices of the Defendant. The performance aimed to promote Stanislaw Lem’s creations among young people. The group, after several weeks of preparation, presented the performance. It was open to the public and free of charge. It was shown only once to present the achievements of young volunteers. The performance consisted of music, light, installations and referenced Stanislaw Lem’s literary works. During 37 minutes of performance, the literary pieces are quoted in approximately 4 minutes. Following the performance, the recording was made available on the Defendant’s website.
The Plaintiff filed a legal claim of copyright infringement before the District Court in Warsaw, XXII IP Division, requesting the removal of the recording from the website, a public apology published on his website, and legal costs. The Defendant raised the quotation exception during the legal proceedings.
On April 4, 2023, the District Court dismissed the claim in its entirety and ordered the Plaintiff to pay the legal costs. The Plaintiff appealed the decision before the Court of Appeal in Warsaw.
Held: The Court of Appeal in Warsaw, Seventh Division of Intellectual Property and Commercial Law reversed the District Court decision and ordered the Defendant to remove the recording from the website, publish an apology and pay the legal costs.
Relevant holdings in relation to copyright exceptions and limitations: The Court of Appeal determined that the use of literary works in public performances can fall within the scope of the quotation exception, particularly when such performances are part of recognized practices, like presenting achievements to the public, such as to children in schools or participants in cultural events. This can be considered fair practice. However, the Court of Appeal found that displaying the performance on a website could not be justified under the same fair practice standard. Consequently, such online distribution does not qualify for the quotation exception.
In essence, the Court of Appeal highlighted that what constitutes fair practice under Article 10 of the Berne Convention is context-dependent, with practices considered fair in traditional settings not necessarily justifying the quotation exception in an online environment.
Relevant legislation:
· Articles 29 and 35 of the Polish Copyright Act of 4th February 1994
· Article 10(1) of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works