Copyright transfer, as regulated in Articles 41-68 of the Polish Act on Copyrights and Related Rights of 9 February 1994 (Polish Journal of Laws 2006.90.631 – hereinafter referred to as “Copyright Act”) is extremely strict and formalised. Current regulations are designed to protect the creator against business and the media industry, which are considered as the stronger party in copyright transfer relations. Any transfer must have specified fields of exploitation or will be declared invalid. Moreover, any inaccuracies have to be resolved in favour of the creator.
There is also an obligation to use a specific expression of intent to transfer copyrights. If not, according to Article 65 of the Copyright Act, there is a presumption that a given agreement is actually a licence agreement signed for a defined period of five years. So far, Polish jurisprudence has maintained that these regulations are unconditional, though a recent Supreme Court judgment of from 15 November 2012 (V CSK 545/11) stated that in some circumstances the strict rules of copyright transfer can be alleviated. Read more
