POLAND LAW AND PRACTICE Contributed by: Krystyna Szczepanowska-Kozłowska, Marcin Ziarkowski, Krzysztof Popławski and Kacper Sobolewski, A&O Shearman, A. Pedzich Sp. k .
of the case, nor does it conduct evidentiary proceedings or assess the evidence collected to determine which facts can be considered proven. Instead, the court focuses on reviewing the actions of the administrative authorities to ensure they were performed correctly. It checks whether the authorities adhered to the relevant provisions of administrative procedure and sub - stantive law, including whether they thoroughly examined and assessed the evidence presented. The administrative court issuing a judgment is not bound by the scope of the complaint or the legal basis invoked by a party. A cassation appeal against the judgment of the Voivodeship Administrative Court may be filed with the Supreme Administrative Court within 30 days from the date of service of the judgment. A cassation appeal can be based on a violation of substantive law or a violation of the provisions of the proceedings if the infringement could signifi - cantly impact the outcome of the case. 7.2 Appeal Court(s) Arbiter Patent Infringement Cases An appeal against a court judgment or a PI deci - sion is examined by one judge specialising in intellectual property matters. Patent Invalidation Proceedings Typically, the panel of the Voivodeship Admin - istrative Court that reviews the PPO’s decision consists of three judges who may (but do not have to) specialise in patent law, depending on their availability and allocation. 7.3 Special Provisions A separate procedure for IP cases was intro - duced in 2020 to ensure high-quality judgments and facilitate evidence gathering for claimants
to pursue claims for infringement of intellectual property rights. The IP cases are examined by intellectual prop - erty divisions within the Regional Courts, where judges specialising in intellectual property adju - dicate. Particularly complex cases, such as those concerning computer programs, inven - tions and utility models, are adjudicated exclu - sively by the Regional Court in Warsaw. In IP cases, in principle, it is mandatory for the parties to be represented by a professional attor - ney (an advocate, an attorney-at-law or a patent attorney). The IP procedure introduced a wide range of pos - sibilities, such as securing evidence, requesting disclosure of evidence and requesting informa - tion from the other party (see 1.7 Pre-action Dis- covery/Disclosure and 1.8 Search and Seizure Orders for more details). There are no other relevant forums or procedures with respect to life sciences & pharma IP litiga - tion in Poland. 9. Alternative Dispute Resolution 9.1 ADR Options In Poland, patent litigation continues to be the norm. ADR forms in life sciences disputes in Poland are rare and face several obstacles. These are particularly attributable to the following factors: the lack of awareness of ADR options, the preference for court litigation (specialised 8. Other Relevant Forums/ Procedures 8.1 The UPC or Other Forums
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