Copyright law in Poland at the age of an information society – a critical voice of copyright users

Abstract

The article contains a critical summary of the twentieth anniversary of the Act on Copyright and Related Rights being in force, and focuses on the issue of the position of copyright users in today’s copyright-related market. The main problems of the functioning of copyright law in Poland are identified and the ineffective enforcement of law by administrative authorities presented. The
non-existence of an efficient collective management system is also raised, as well as the resulting immense inequality of copyright market participants. Attention has been drawn to the increasing difficulties and barriers to conducting businesses that depend on copyright and relative rights use, to obsolete regulation, non-consistent judicial rulings and repressive liability principles imposed. The author then makes some recommendations, mostly legislative, that could provide for some adjustments to the benefit of all copyright-market participants.