Protection of Advertising Work in Copyright Law in Poland

Tadeusz Kononiuk

The following features differentiate “advertising creation” in the understanding of law from other results of human activities:• it is the effect of human work – the creator of the advertisement,• it is a creative work,• it has an individual character. When the work is completed and presented it gets copyright protection whereas when it exists as an author’s idea only there are no legal foundations to grant it copyright protection. It must be stressed that due to the specific character of advertising activity it cannot be always effectively protected by copyright law. It does not mean yet that it can be used illegally. An advertisement can be effectively protected by regulations concerning brand protection and aimed at fighting with unfair competition. These regulations have crucial meaning in starting legal frames of advertising activities.

KEYWORDS

advertisement, advertising work, graphic work, utility art, creative contribution, author's personal mark