Andrzej Matlak
Since the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the Jagiellonian University has occupied a unique position in the field of research on intellectual property law. After graduating from legal studies in Krakow, professor Fryderyk Zoll (the younger) started legal practice at the Patent Office in Vienna. It is accepted in the scholarship that it was professor Fryderyk Zoll who built the theory and structure of Polish copyright law, inventive law and the law on combating unfair competition. He was the co-creator of, among others, the 1924 Act on the Protection of Inventions, Designs and Trademarks, the 1926 Act on Combating Unfair Competition and the 1926 Act on Copyright, which at that time were considered one of the most modern in Europe. His works in the field of intellectual property law were continued by professor Stefan Grzybowski and professor Stefan Ritterman. After World War II, Andrzej Kopff - under the supervision of prof. Stefan Grzybowski - obtained a doctorate and then habilitation. Around this tandem, a group of people dealing with a detailed analysis of intellectual property issues began to form 1.
Professor Stefan Grzybowski was the initiator of the concept of establishing a specialized institute dealing with intellectual property law. At the turn of the 1960s and 1970s, this idea was approved by the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, the Ministry of Culture and Art, the Patent Office and the then Rector of the Jagiellonian University (professor Mieczysław Klimaszewski), who saw establishing of such an institute as indicative of the rise of the University's importance not only nationally but also internationally 2.
From the very beginning, there was no doubt that the Institute was to have an inter-university character. Still, for organizational and financial reasons, the concept of placing it within the structure of the Jagiellonian University won. It was assumed that the inter-university nature of the Institute should consist not only in conducting research with the joint efforts of researchers from various universities but also in forming the intitute outside of the purely internal organizational structures. The Council of the Institute was supposed to provide a clear picture of the inter-university and nationwide character of the unit and ensure that they were maintained and that the institution operated appropriately. The Council was to be composed of, among others, professors of the Jagiellonian University appointed by the Rector of the Jagiellonian University, professors of other universities, as well as representatives of the Minister of Education and Higher Education, the Minister of Culture and Art, and the President of the Patent Office 3.
After agreeing on all organizational details, the Intercollegiate Institute of Inventiveness and Protection of Intellectual Property was established by the Minister of Education and Higher Education on March 24, 1972 4 . Professor Andrzej Kopff became the first director of the Institute, and professor Stefan Grzybowski was appointed as the chairman of the Council of the Institute.
Initially, the Institute was an independent research and development unit of the Jagiellonian University, and in 1996 it was incorporated into the structures of the newly established Faculty of Management and Social Communication of the Jagiellonian University. In 2002, the name of the unit was changed to the Institute of Intellectual Property Law. On October 1, 2012, the Institute of Intellectual Property Law was transferred from the Faculty of Management and Social Communication of the Jagiellonian University to the Faculty of Law and Administration of the Jagiellonian University as the newly established Intellectual Property Law Chair. The Chair consists of four departments: the Department of Copyright Law, the Department of Industrial Property Law, the Department of Information Law and the Department of Competition and Mass Media Law. Consequently, the Intellectual Property Law Chair is the new form of activity of the Institute.
Since its inception, the Institute has been the most prominent specialist research centre in Poland, dealing with the issues of broadly understood intellectual property law. Its academic staff conducts research in the field of Polish, foreign, European and international intellectual property law. They cover issues such as copyright and related rights, patents, trademarks and designations of origin, utility models, know-how protection, press law (including radio and television regulations), protection of personal rights, IT law, new technologies, antitrust law, unfair competition law and protection of personal data.
The scientific staff of the Institute made a fundamental mark on the character of the Institute. In particular, the directors should be mentioned: professor Andrzej Kopff, professor Janusz Szwaja (acting director in the years 1975-1991), professor Janusz Barta and professor Ryszard Markiewicz (managing the unit from 1991 practically until 2018) and the first chairman of the Council, of the Institute: professor Stefan Grzybowski. The notable staff members also include professor Ewa Nowińska, professor Elżbieta Traple, professor Izabela Dobosz, professor Jerzy Serda, and professor Michael du Vall. It should be particularly emphasized that the Institute's researchers played essential roles in the structure of the Jagiellonian University: professor Andrzej Kopff held the position of Vice-Rector of the Jagiellonian University (1981-1987), professor Michał du Vall was the Vice-Rector of the Jagiellonian University (2008-2012), and previously the Dean of the Faculty of Management and Social Communication of the Jagiellonian University (2002-2008), while professor Ewa Nowińska was the Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Management and Social Communication of the Jagiellonian University (2009-2012).
Footnotes:
[1] - Cf. Stefan Grzybowski, Instytutu początki…, Zeszyty Naukowe Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego, Prace z Wynalazczości i Ochrony Własności Intelektualnej, Kraków 1997, z. 69, s. 7-8.
[2] - Ibidem, s. 8-9.
[3] - Ibidem, s. 10-11.
[4] - Ordinance of the Minister of Education and Higher Education of March 24, 1972 (DU-5-0142-17 / 72) on the establishment of the Intercollegiate Institute of Inventiveness and Protection of Intellectual Property at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, published in the Official Journal of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education from 1972, poz. 36.