[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"advice-en-intellectual-property-overview":3},{"slug":4,"title":5,"excerpt":6,"body":7,"datePublished":8,"dateModified":8},"intellectual-property-overview","Intellectual property in a company — copyright and industrial rights","Copyright arises on its own, a patent and trademark must be filed. Protection terms, moral and economic rights, IP courts and a plan to secure company IP.","\u003Cp>Intellectual property in Poland covers two groups of rights: copyright, which arises by itself the moment a work is fixed, and industrial property rights (patents, designs, trademarks), which must be obtained from the Polish Patent Office. For a company it is crucial to establish which assets are already protected by law alone, which require filing, and which must be secured by contract.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>Two pillars: what is protected automatically and what must be filed\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>The division has practical consequences. Copyright does not require any procedure — the Act on copyright and related rights grants protection to the author \"regardless of the fulfilment of any formalities\". It is enough that a creative work of individual character has come into being, fixed in any form: text, graphic, photograph, website design, source code.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>Industrial property rights are different. An invention, utility model, industrial design or trademark grants exclusivity only after a decision of the Polish Patent Office (or an EU or international office). Until filing, the entrepreneur has no exclusive right, and in the case of an invention, prior disclosure of the solution may even remove its novelty — a condition of obtaining a patent.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>How long each right lasts\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Ctable>\u003Cthead>\u003Ctr>\u003Cth>Type of right\u003C\u002Fth>\u003Cth>How it arises\u003C\u002Fth>\u003Cth>Term of protection\u003C\u002Fth>\u003C\u002Ftr>\u003C\u002Fthead>\u003Ctbody>\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd>Economic copyright\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>by operation of law, upon fixation of the work\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>70 years from the author's death\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003C\u002Ftr>\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd>Moral copyright\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>by operation of law\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>no time limit\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003C\u002Ftr>\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd>Patent on an invention\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>Patent Office decision\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>20 years from the filing date\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003C\u002Ftr>\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd>Protection right on a utility model\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>Patent Office decision\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>10 years from the filing date\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003C\u002Ftr>\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd>Right from registration of an industrial design\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>Patent Office decision\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>up to 25 years, in five-year periods\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003C\u002Ftr>\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd>Protection right on a trademark\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>Patent Office decision\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>10 years, renewable for further 10 years\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003C\u002Ftr>\u003C\u002Ftbody>\u003C\u002Ftable>\u003Cp>Industrial rights are maintained in force by periodic fees. Failing to pay them on time means the protection expires, even if the product still sells well. A trademark is the only right that, with regular renewals, can essentially last indefinitely.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>Moral and economic rights — why the distinction matters in contracts\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>The author has two bundles of rights. Moral rights (including the right to authorship, to have the work marked with one's name, to the integrity of the content) are unlimited in time and cannot be sold or waived. Economic rights — the right to use the work and draw income from it — can be transferred or licensed.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>In business relations, economic rights matter most. The Act gives the employer a presumption: a work created by an employee within duties under the employment relationship passes to the employer upon acceptance, within the scope of the contract's purpose. There is no such automatic effect under a mandate contract (umowa zlecenie), a specific-task contract (umowa o dzieło) or cooperation with a sole proprietorship — there, the transfer of rights must follow from a written agreement specifying fields of exploitation. The details of this issue in contracts with programmers are described in the article on the \u003Ca href=\"\u002Fen\u002Fadvice\u002Fip-box-what-is-it\">IP Box relief\u003C\u002Fa>, where correct acquisition of rights is a condition of the preferential taxation.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>Computer program, brand, technology — what to protect and how\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cul>\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Source code and documentation\u003C\u002Fstrong> — protected like literary works. Protection covers all forms of expression of the program, but not the ideas and principles underlying it. An algorithm as a concept cannot be reserved by copyright.\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Company name, logo, product name\u003C\u002Fstrong> — entry in CEIDG or KRS does not give market exclusivity. Protection is provided by trademark registration; the procedure and fees are discussed in a separate guide.\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Technical solution\u003C\u002Fstrong> — a patent (invention that is new, involving an inventive step and suitable for industrial application) or a cheaper and shorter utility model for solutions concerning the shape or construction of an object.\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Appearance of a product or packaging\u003C\u002Fstrong> — industrial design registration.\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Know-how, recipes, client lists\u003C\u002Fstrong> — not registered at any office. Protection is through confidentiality: non-disclosure agreements, restricted access, internal procedures. Without such steps it is hard later to show that the information constituted a trade secret.\u003C\u002Fli>\u003C\u002Ful>\u003Ch2>Infringement dispute: which court and who can represent\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>Cases on copyright, industrial property and unfair competition are grouped in the Code of Civil Procedure under the category \"intellectual property cases\". They are heard by regional courts with intellectual property divisions. The Warsaw Regional Court has exclusive jurisdiction, among others, in disputes over computer programs, inventions and utility models, as well as trade secrets of a technical nature. Other cases go to several regional courts indicated in the rules.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Cp>In such proceedings legal representation is generally mandatory (except in cases with a dispute value up to PLN 20,000) — the proxy may be an advocate, legal adviser, and in intellectual property cases also a patent attorney. From the entrepreneur's perspective, this means that evidence (dates of creation of projects, correspondence, contracts, file versions) is worth gathering on an ongoing basis, before a conflict arises.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>Plan for securing intellectual property in a small business\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Col>\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Inventory.\u003C\u002Fstrong> A list of what the company creates or buys: software, content, graphic designs, names, technical solutions, databases.\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Chain of rights check.\u003C\u002Fstrong> For each item: who the author is, on what basis the cooperation took place, whether there is a written transfer of rights or a licence with fields of exploitation.\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Decision on registration.\u003C\u002Fstrong> A brand used in sales — filing of the trademark before the campaign launch. A technical solution — filing before publication, presentation at a fair or on social media.\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Confidentiality.\u003C\u002Fstrong> Confidentiality clauses in contracts with employees, associates and contractors; separation of access to repositories and documents.\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Calendar.\u003C\u002Fstrong> Deadlines for periodic fees and trademark renewals, review of licence agreements.\u003C\u002Fli>\u003C\u002Fol>\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>Example.\u003C\u002Fstrong> A design studio builds an application for a client, using two programmers on B2B contracts and a graphic designer on a specific-task contract. If the contracts with these people do not transfer economic rights to the studio, the studio cannot effectively pass them on to the client — the client receives a product to which, formally, they do not have full rights. Fixing such a situation after the fact requires the consent of each author, which can be difficult and costly.\u003C\u002Fp>\u003Ch2>How Good Balance can help\u003C\u002Fh2>\u003Cp>We help entrepreneurs put intellectual property matters in order: we analyse contracts with employees and associates, point out gaps in the chain of rights and advise which assets are worth filing for protection. As part of a \u003Ca href=\"\u002Fen\u002Fservices\u002Flegal\u002Fconsultation\">legal consultation\u003C\u002Fa> we will discuss the situation of your company, and we will prepare clauses on the transfer of rights, licences and confidentiality as part of the \u003Ca href=\"\u002Fen\u002Fservices\u002Flegal\u002Fagreement-drafting\">contract drafting\u003C\u002Fa> service.\u003C\u002Fp>","2026-10-09"]