Public communication of works and the harmonisation of author’s economic rights in the European Union law

Abstract

The aim of the article is to present and analyse the key questions concerning the scope of the right to communicate the works to the public under Polish law. The provisions of the Polish Act on Copyright and Related Rights concerning the public communication right has changed in the last two decades due to the implementation of the European Union law. Furthermore, it follows from the recent ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) that the public communication right is fully harmonised in Article 3.1 of the Information Society Directive. Therefore, the interpretation of the scope of the public communication right in the CJEU’s judgments is crucial
for the correct application of the provisions of Polish law. The article  commences with presentation of the development of the provisions of Polish Act on Copyright and Related Rights, then the most important rulings of the CJEU are discussed with the emphasis on the meaning of ‘the public’ and the level of harmonisation. Against this background the specific Polish provisions on the communication of broadcasts to the public are presented and the compliance with the EU law is questioned. In the last part the approach to the placing hyperlinks as an act constituting the public communications of works is compared in the CJEU’s ruling and the approach by Polish court.