Indywidualny charakter utworu jako przesłanka ochrony prawnoautorskiej dzieła technicznego

Abstract

Technical works serve, by their nature, for realization of practical purposes. Utilitarian nature of technical works has influence on the content and form of the work. Technological limitations, predictability of the expected results or practice of conduct are the factors which tailor the “creative activity of individual nature”. Consequently, we can counter “technical works” with “classical pieces of works”, which meet spiritual needs. The review of the legal writings and court rulings leads to the conclusion that, as a rule, creativity requirement will be met in case of technical works; nevertheless, it might be doubtful to what extent the creative process, stratified by objective factors, might allow to individually shape the technical work. As a result, in most cases the question of copyrightable protection for technical works comes to whether they meet the condition of individual character of work. Statutory condition of individual character of work needs to cover any manifestation of man’s creative activity, including those which belong to widely understood nonfictional field of works (technical or scientific works). Consequently, the specific nature of technical works raises the questions to what extent the individuality condition is met in case of technical works as well as what the meaning of individual nature of the work is from the Polish copyright law perspective.

Keywords

• intellectual property law
• copyright law
• technical works
• individual character of a pieces of works