Copyright is one of the branches of private law. The Act of February 4, 1994 on copyright and related rights contains not only the definition of a work and the manner of protection of proprietary and non-proprietary copyrights. It also lists the crimes that can be committed under this act. Penal sanctions in the Act are of a special nature in relation to the Criminal Law Act.
In art. 115-119 of the Act lists the following offenses:
- misappropriation of authorship,
- disseminating the work without permission,
- illegal recording and reproduction of objects of copyright and related rights,
- dealing in copyright and related rights,
- creating devices for unauthorized removal or circumvention of technical security measures,
- violation of the right to control and the right to information.
It should be borne in mind that infringement of copyright and related rights is subject to not only civil law consequences (such as a lawsuit for cessation of infringement or damages) but also criminal ones. The legislator came to the conclusion that the protection of intellectual property should be tightened – precisely through the application of criminal sanctions. Accordingly, the above-mentioned crimes are punishable by fines, restriction of liberty and even imprisonment for up to 5 years.
