Articles

Bruce Lee’s Case: Intellectual Property vs. Free Access to Culture and Protection of Public Interest

Dr Magdalena Łągiewska, prof. dr hab. Kamil Zeidler

University of Gdańsk

English abstract: This article provides a comprehensive analysis of Bruce Lee’s case by presenting the intellectual property rights mechanisms in the People’s Republic of China. The aim of this paper is to bring attention to the trademark law as well as to shed new light on infringements of personality rights, in particular portrait rights, in trademarks. This begs the question as to what kind of legal action should be undertaken by Bruce Lee’s heiress to protect her rights. Moreover, the article touches upon the conflict between the public interest and trademarks and tries to answer the question how to balance private holders’ rights with the public interest. In order to provide some hypothetical scenarios, the study focuses primarily on Bruce Lee’s case background and the new amendments to trademark law in China, bringing the authors to final deliberations on Bruce Lee as part of modern culture belonging to mankind as a whole. Therefore, our research aims to find a solution to the challenging problem of reconciling intellectual property rights protection mechanisms with the common cultural heritage.

Keywords: Bruce Lee’s case, intellectual property infringement, trademark law, Chinese law, public interest, cultural heritage

Language: English

Published: Number 3(24)/2020, pp. 79-92.

DOI: [***]

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Public Interest and Access to Justice: A Liminal Analysis

Dr Jan Winczorek

University of Warsaw

English abstract: The paper argues that there exists a contradiction between access to justice and public interest. It substantiates this claim by reviewing selected arguments for access to justice and by referring to empirical evidence. The contradiction is then interpreted using a sociological theory of law, which enables establishing the structural reasons for such a clash. In order to reconcile access to justice with the public interest, the legal system must develop the semantics allowing for a better understanding of social inclusion conditions. In particular, the legal system must finally do away with pre-modern charity-oriented concept of access to justice, be able to grasp access to justice in its totality and reflect on conditions of legal inclusion. If it fails to do that, it is doomed to reproduce the conflict. The concept of access to justice developed by Cappelletti and others in the 1970s is a good point of departure here, but it is by far insufficient.

Keywords: access to justice, public interest, systems theory

Language: English

Published: Number 3(24)/2020, pp. 24-40.

DOI: [***]

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Amendments to the Law on Assemblies Against the Background of the Constitutional Freedom of Assembly in Poland

Prof. UR dr hab. Beata Stępień-Załucka

University of Rzeszów

English abstract: Article 57 of the Polish Constitution outlines one of the fundamental political human and civil freedoms: freedom of assembly. Currently, in Poland, this freedom has been affected by amendments to the provisions regulating it, contained in the Law on Assemblies. The introduced changes, due to their nature, understandably give rise doubts of theoretical, legal, and practical nature. And it is against the background of the constitutional regulation of the meaning and role of freedom of assembly that the reflections in this paper are presented.

Keywords: human and civil rights and freedoms, freedom of assembly

Language: English

Published: Number 3(24)/2020, pp. 105-117.

DOI: [***]

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Is “Public Interest” a Conceptual Category of Contemporary Polish Procedural Criminal Law?

Prof. dr hab. Hanna Paluszkiewicz

University of Zielona Góra

English abstract: This study aims at presenting conceptual category named “public interest” under the Polish procedural criminal law. The concept of “public interest”, which is the subject of this analysis, is treated as an indefinite term, functioning as a general clause, whose the task of which is to render a legal text more “flexible” by referring to a set of values outside of the system.

The term “public interest” is no longer used in the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The legislator still uses many other general clauses, including the “social interest” clause. The analysis of cases in which this clause is used shows that, in fact, these two conceptual categories may not be equated, should not be used interchangeably, and are not synonymous. Although the term “public interest” is no longer a statutory term under the Code of Criminal Procedure, given the fact that it expresses values such as respect for the law and the rule of law, it should be assumed that by proper shaping of the criminal trial model and ensuring that entities performing the role of public interest advocates participate in it, these values are – at least potentially – protected. State prosecutors, in their capacity of public interest advocates and in order to properly discharge their duty to uphold the rule of law, should maintain organizational independence and procedural impartiality.

Keywords: procedural criminal law, general clause, public interest, public interest advocate, social interest advocate, state prosecutor

Language: English

Published: Number 3(24)/2020, pp. 93-104.

DOI: [***]

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Public and Social Interest in Journalistic Activity

Dr Dobrochna Ossowska-Salamonowicz

University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn

English abstract: Freedom of the press is one of the best ways of reflecting and shaping public opinion about the ideas and attitudes of political leaders, public figures or those entrusted with public functions. Freedom of the press is also an opportunity to depict reprehensible phenomena such as corruption, fraud, crime or nepotism. The press may be faced with types of subjects that may cause dilemmas for the journalist. Whose interest should above all be represented: the interest of the society or the state? What is more important: the right to privacy or the right of access to information?

Keywords: interest of the state, freedom of the press, duty to serve the public, journalist

Language: English

Published: Number 3(24)/2020, pp. 118-126.

DOI: [***]

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Improving Global Public Health: Responsiveness to Public Interest Considerations in Intellectual Property Law

Prof. UG dr hab. Maciej Barczewski, prof. UG dr hab. Sebastian Sykuna

University of Gdańsk

English abstract: Over the past few years the WTO Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights recognized the growing concern over an imbalance between intellectual property and public interest. With regard to health technologies in particular, without sufficient use of balancing exceptions and limitations, patents and related monopoly rights primarily serve to protect corporate interests of the pharmaceutical industry. The broadest possible use of compulsory licenses is one of the essential measures that can contribute to increase in responsiveness to public interest considerations in defining the boundaries of the IP-related components that determine access to medicines. Another instrument is the process of interpretation and implementation of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement (TRIPS), which aims not only at clarifying the meaning of the provisions or determining the intentions of the parties to this treaty, but sets sights on reconciling its competing objectives. The need to interpret and implement the TRIPS Agreement in a way that protects public interest is confirmed by the obligation of acting “in a manner conducive to social and economic welfare” under Article 7 of the Agreement. Moreover, Article 8 allows to adopt “measures necessary to protect public health and nutrition, and to promote the public interest in sectors of vital importance to their socio-economic and technological development”. Therefore, in the context of the problem of access to medicines, the important role of human rights as an instrument for the prevention of abuse of intellectual property rights and the restoration of their balance, taking into account the interests of both the
beneficiaries of protection and the general public, should be emphasized.

Keywords: intellectual property, WTO, human rights, public interest, patents, access to medicines, TRIPS

Language: English

Published: Number 3(24)/2020, pp. 66-78.

DOI: [***]

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Public Truths and Their Legal Protection

Dr Mateusz Klinowski

Jagiellonian University in Kraków

English abstract: In this paper I deal with two key concepts of a modern political theory, i.e. truth and public interest, and examine relationships between them. This subject seems particularly important in the context of the observed crisis of the liberal democracy and the spread of misinformation and fake news. I argue that there is a need to create a public system of protection designed to defend the logical status of those statements which have a value for the society. By using the notion of public interest as a tool for analysis, I demonstrate how such a system might be structured. I suggest employing existing public institutions to construct a system of public protection of the truth, yet supplemented by a coordinating body based on the ombudsman model.

Keywords: post-truth, disinformation, public interest, personal truths, public truths, factual knowledge, public protection of truth, ombudsman institutions, spokesman of truth

Language: English

Published: Number 3(24)/2020, pp. 7-23.

DOI: [***]

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Is Post-Mortem Organ Donation a Duty Towards Society and Can It Be Justified by Public Interest? Recent Bills to Amend the German Transplantation Law

Prof. UZ dr hab. Martyna Łaszewska-Hellriegel

University of Zielona Góra

English abstract: The issue of organ donation from deceased donors remains unsatisfactorily resolved in Germany. The number of donors has remained very low in recent years. Consequently, the German Bundestag was holding a debate on two MP bills aimed at amending the organ transplantation law. Two main bills were presented by different groups of MPs. The more controversial of them, supported by the Minister of Health, tried to introduce the opt-out model into Germany’s organ transplantation system. The second one aimed to improve the existing opt-in model. During the final voting, the Bundestag decided against the opt-out model and in favour of the improved opt-in one. In some experts’ eyes, an opt-out model imposes an obligation on the citizens to donate an organ after brain death. Can such a duty to the society be justified by public interest or other principles? The goal of this article is to offer an answer to this question by analysing the provisions of the German constitution.

Keywords: opt-out model, organ donation, transplants, German organ transplantation law

Language: English

Published: Number 3(24)/2020, pp. 53-65.

DOI: [***]

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“Interest of the Individual” versus “Common Good” and “Public Interest” in the Context of Technological Progress in Medicine

Prof. UwB dr hab. Anetta Breczko

University of Białystok

English abstract: The paper discusses issues tied to technological progress in the field of medicine, with respect to the categories of: “interest of the individual”, “common good” and “public interest”. The author attempts to present potential moral and legal threats that can result from the application of the latest medical technologies. The paper points out fundamental problems related to technology, medicine, law, and ethics. The analysis performed by the author shows that the technological methods for “human enhancement” can yield great benefits not only from the standpoint of individual interests of patients, but also in the context of the common good and public interest. On the other hand, the transhumanist dreams of the “bionic man” (the “perfect man”) collide with the current global situation, related to the coronavirus pandemic. The noticeable inefficiency of the healthcare system in that respect breeds doubts whether it will be possible, in the short-term perspective, to push back diseases and postpone the moment of death. It is important for the public interest to be understood properly: as the embodiment of the common good (that is, as a kind of a common denominator for the society), and not as the instrument for the fulfilment of the particular goals of the ruling majority. The development of civilization must be based on the universal, common values developed in the European culture. Technological progress in medicine should be accompanied by rational debate on its social costs and by genuine assessment or risks and threats (in the individual, social, civilizationational and cultural dimensions). Such debate is indispensable for the common good.

Keywords: interest of the individual, common good, public interest, health, medicine, technological progress

Language: English

Published: Number 3(24)/2020, pp. 41-52.

DOI: [***]

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Transitional Justice and the Constitutional Crisis: The Case of Poland (2015–2019)

Dr Michał Krotoszyński

Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań

English abstract: During the last four years the situation in Poland has been a matter of interest to the worldwide legal community mostly due to the constitutional crisis. Yet, the years 2015–2019 were also a time of a revival of transitional justice measures, such as cleansing the public sphere of communist symbols, remodelling of lustration law, and further reduction of pensions of communist secret service employees and officers. In this paper I argue that these spheres are interconnected and that Poland’s constitutional crisis has a transitional justice dimension. I start with an overview of retrospective instruments dealing with the communist past introduced in the last four years. Next, I turn to the constitutional crisis itself, discussing its possible explanations and transitional justice aspects. In the end I claim that the dramatic constitutional backsliding that Poland has recently experienced can be explained not only as a power grab, but also as a result of the tension between the rule of law and the principle of individual responsibility on one hand – and the resort to collective accountability in an attempt to get what the government sees as justice on the other.

Keywords: transitional justice, lustration, decommunization, Poland’s constitutional crisis, Polish Supreme Court, rule of law, sincerity principle

Language: English

Published: Number 3(21)/2019, pp. 22-39.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2019.3.22

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