POLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Szymon Gogulski, Marek Oleksyn and Maciej Gil, Sołtysiński Kawecki & Szlęzak
5.3 Initiating a Lawsuit Initiating a lawsuit requires filing a pleading (see 5.5 Initial Pleading Standards ), which is subject to a court fee. The court fee amount depends on the types of claims sought and is determined under the relevant statutory rules (see 5.11 Cost of Litigation ). 5.4 Jurisdiction of the Courts IP Courts Having Jurisdiction Over Trade Secrets Disputes From July 2020, civil lawsuits concerning the unlawful disclosure, use and acquisition of trade secrets are examined by specialised IP courts. These courts have exclusive jurisdiction to examine all – broadly defined – IP matters that comprise unfair competition cases, including trade secrets disputes. The specialised IP courts operate as separate divisions (chambers) of regional courts in the first instance and of courts of appeal as second-instance courts. There are five first- instance IP courts, namely Warsaw, Poznań, Gdańsk, Katowice and Lublin, having the jurisdiction to exam - ine trade secrets disputes and two second-instance IP courts in Warsaw and Poznań. Additionally, the Regional Court in Warsaw has exclusive jurisdiction to resolve all matters pertaining to the infringement of technical trade secrets in the first instance. Special Rules in IP, Including Trade Secrets and Infringement Proceedings Court proceedings concerning the infringement of a trade secret are conducted under certain specific rules envisaged exclusively for IP (including trade secrets) disputes as set out in the CPC. These spe - cific procedural rules were enacted together with the establishment of specialised IP courts in July 2020, and include: • the mandatory representation of litigating parties by attorneys-at-law or by patent attorneys unless the dispute value is below PLN20,000 or the court releases a party (upon request or ex officio) from such professional representation obligations due to the low complexity of the case; • the primacy of these IP-specific procedural rules over other specific CPC regulations which may also apply to IP litigation in the case of inconsisten - cies; and
• the competence of IP courts regarding qualifying a given matter as an IP case, which is binding on other courts. 5.5 Initial Pleading Standards Initial Pleading – General Requirements A lawsuit in trade secrets litigation is subject to the general requirements set out in the CPC for civil cas - es. Under the CPC, a lawsuit must comply with the general requirements envisaged for each procedural brief and should additionally contain: • a precisely specified request, and in cases of property rights, also the indication of the dispute value unless the subject of the case is a specified amount of money; • an indication of a date when the respective claim became due; • a presentation of the facts on which the claimant forms their claim and, if necessary, also justifying the jurisdiction of the court; and • information on whether the parties have attempted mediation or other out-of-court resolution regard - ing the dispute, and if such attempts have not been made, an explanation of the reasons for failing to do so. Irrespectively, a lawsuit may include additional motions concerning, for example: • an interim injunction; • conducting a hearing in the absence of a claimant; or • the preparation of the hearing – eg, requests for: (a) the witnesses and experts indicated by the claimant to be summoned to a hearing; and (b) an inspection to be made or the defendant ordered to deliver a document in their posses - sion to the hearing. Burden of Proof According to the general rules on the burden of proof, the claimant must prove the infringement by all pos - sible means of evidence. Consequently, in principle, a trade secret owner (claimant) cannot allege facts “on information and belief” before it has concrete evi - dence of misappropriation.
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