Exhibition organizers in Poland are persuading the authorities about the role of exhibitions as an instrument of the innovative economy

The intensive factual and lobbying actions carried out by PCEI since 2014, which were intensified in 2015 as a consequence of adopting the draft of the act on industrial property right and some other acts adopted by the Council of Ministers on February 24, 2015, which had been proposed by the Minister of the Economy, yesterday, i.e. on July 30, 2015, brought about a significant breakthrough in the matter. The chronological timeline is as follows: • 13.03.2015 – the Parliament of the Republic of Poland received the government bill amending the act on industrial property right of June 30, 2000, amended in 2007; it was an important fact for the Polish exhibition industry although the legislative project did not concern changes which are the most important for Polish Chamber of Exhibition Industry. Nevertheless the amendment was an opportunity for Polish Chamber of Exhibition Industry to regain the privilege lost as a result of amending the Act in 2007. • due to the onset of the amendment works in the Parliament, PCEI addressed 44 letter to the Economic Commission of the Parliament of the Republic of Poland containing its own suggestions of legislative changes in the act on industrial property right; • 18.03.2015 – the government project was submitted to he Economic Commission of the Parliament of the Republic of Poland; • 8.04.2015 – the Economic Commission had the first reading of the government bill on amendment of the act – industrial property right and other selected acts (Sejm paper no. 3249). The extraordinary subcommittee was appointed to investigate the government bill, composed of Marek Polak MP (Krakow), Wojciech Zubowski MP (Legnica), Marek Niedbała MP (Poznan), Artur Gierada MP (Kielce) and Katarzyna Stachowicz MP (Sosnowiec). • The subcommittee convened on April 9, April 22 and May 13, 2015, with the participation of the highest representatives of the Patent Office. • 9.04.2015 – during the meeting of the extraordinary committee, a motion on behalf of PCEI was presented by Marek Niedbała MP; unfortunately it was not received favourably by the representatives of the Patent Office, who confirmed that fact of conducting talks with PCEI, however they are of the opinion that the proposal put forward by PCEI is not compliant with the EU law; they were not convinced by the arguments provided by the German Patent Office and AUMA; the discussions on our motion at the stage of subcommittee works proved the difficulty of the problem; • PCEI addressed its Members with the request for support of our actions. Letters concerning the matter in question were also addressed to non-governmental and self-government organizations: Lewiatan Confederation and to Employers of the Republic of Poland, who expressed their interest in the matter and analysed it; • 26.05.2015 – the meeting of the Economic Commission which approved the draft of the extraordinary subcommittee and addressed the Parliament to pass the draft of the Act; the draft did not include the proposal of changes motioned by PCEI; • The government bill amending the act had 1st and 2nd reading in the Parliament and after that it was voted on and adopted; • 12-15.06.2015 – the act was moved to the Speaker of Parliament, to Commission works on the position of the Senate, as well as to the President, • 23.07.2015 – at the same time the Economic Committee started discussion over he MP bill amending the act on industrial property right, supported by several dozen MPs; the discussion focused on two crucial changes, one of which concerned the proposal of reinstating in the Polish legislation, at the initiative of the society, i.e. Polish entrepreneurs of the exhibition sector with the significant support of the Lewiatan confederation, the institution of exhibition priority at Polish exhibitions; it was assessed that the proposed changes are beneficial for the Polish economy; and extraordinary subcommittee was selected consisting of: Marek Niedbała, Marek Matuszewski, Wojciech Zubowski, Artur Gierada, Michał Jaros, Leszek Jastrzębski and Mieczysław Kasprzak; • 30.07.2015 – a meeting of the extraordinary committee; the meeting was attended by the representatives of the Polish exhibition industry and PCEI; Paweł Babij, member of the Board of PCEI, as well as the President of the Polish Chamber of Construction Trade and Commerce, as well as Grażyna Basa, the patent spokesperson, at the session, after a heated debate, the following PCEI project was adopted in the amendment of the act on industrial property right: 1) in article 15, the existing content has been designated as clause 1 and clauses 2 – 4 have been added worded as follows: 2. The priority to obtain the protection right for a utility model or the right from registration of an industrial design is eligible also under the rules set forth in clause 1 in the case of displaying the utility model or industrial design on a public exhibition in Poland other than those stipulated in clause 1, designated by the President of the Patent Office in a form of an announcement in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Poland Monitor Polski . 3. The exhibition referred to in clause 2 should warrant its credibility and in particular have an established reputation and a long-standing tradition. 4. The initiative to designate the exhibition referred to in clause 2 can be launched by a relevant minister, voivod or the body professionally dealing with the organization of the exhibition referred to in clause 3 ; As we have learned, next Monday (August 3, 2015), the Economic Commission will convene and its chairperson, Artur Gierada, will present the members with the results of the works of the subcommittee. We are looking forward to the further legislative process and we are asking for assistance in supporting our lobbying actions in personal contacts with MPs!