Преглед НЦД 22 (2013), 1–6

Anna Krzemińska

Archives of the Institute of Pharmacology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Cracow, Poland

PUBLIC ACCESS TO COPYRIGHTED MATERIALS IN LIGHT OF THE ACT ON COPYRIGHT AND RELATED RIGHTS IN POLAND:

POSSIBILITIES AND DIFFICULTIES

Abstract: The Polish law-maker specifies the subject matter of copyright. It relates to any and all manifestations of creative activity of an individual nature, established in any form, irrespective of its value, designation, or manner of expression (work). The polish Act on Copyright and Related Rights is strongly protecting author’s rights and authorised entity. There are two groups of copyright: moral and economic rights.

The Copyright Act says that cultural institutions (libraries, archives and schools) might make their collections available free of charge, in accordance with their statutory activities, but this regulation refers only to copies of works that have been disseminated. The problem is that the fact that especially archives, but libraries too, have works of which it is hard to talk about dissemination within the meaning of the Copyright Act, where dissemination is defined as making the work publicly available, in any manner, with the author’s permission.

Very important issue is the possibility of making available material protected by copyright (after their digitalization) in an on-line mode. Polish laws, in principle, exclude the possibility of such actions (naturally, it does not apply to cases whereby the owner of a copyright has expressed the consent to such actions).

Another problematic issue are so-called “orphan works”. Although this term is not defined by the provisions of the copyright law, it shall be understood to mean works of which it is impossible to establish the subject of economic copyright or of which the identity of the subject of copyright is known (creator or successor of the rights), but it is impossible to establish contact with him (the place of stay is unknown, there is no valid address available).

The paper focuses on problems and limitations resulting from law regulations in issues related to availability and digitalisation of copyrighted materials in cultural and scientific institutions.

Keywords: copyright, orphan works, archives materials, making available on-line