On 4 April, the Court of Appeal in Warsaw issued a judgment dismissing the plaintiff's appeal against a judgment favourable to DZP's client, finding that the client had not committed the acts of unfair competition alleged against it. This judgment concludes a case initiated in 2017 in which the Supreme Court also ruled, and which was handled on the client's behalf by DZP lawyers: Paweł Lewandowski, Maciej Orkusz and Anna Ciepla from the Dispute Resolution Practice.

This case was one of several proceedings on a similar subject matter between the parties, originating from litigation settled by the Court of Appeal in Wrocław back in 2008.

DZP’s client, one of the largest press publishers in Poland, had been accused by a competitor of unlawfully taking advantage of its reputation and imitating the markings used on the covers of its magazines. Notwithstanding claims to cease using these markings and to issue a statement of appropriate content and form, a publisher competing with our client also sought the award of several million euros for unjust enrichment.

In addition to the allegations of unfair competition by DZP's client, the court also resolved a dispute concerning the binding force of an earlier judgment between the parties on the same subject matter.

The case is also noteworthy because it is an example of a situation where first and second instance courts took different approaches to the same problem.