REKEL PATENT / Offices and courts

Authorities and courts: who decides what

Doing business in Kraków does not automatically determine the competent court or office. The right, territory, claim and procedural rules are decisive.

01 / IP

Polish Patent Office · UPRP

Role of the authority: The national authority for matters including patents, utility models, industrial designs, trade marks and specified contentious proceedings. It does not award damages in a civil infringement action.
Role of a representative: A patent attorney may represent parties in industrial-property matters. The permitted representatives and any mandatory-representation rule depend on the subject matter and party’s position. Article 236 distinguishes, among other things, technical matters from trade mark and industrial-design matters.

Polish Industrial Property Law

Articles 236, 255 and 259

02 / IP

European Union Intellectual Property Office · EUIPO

Role of the authority: Handles EU trade marks and EU designs, including the relevant opposition, invalidity and appeal procedures. It does not grant patents.
Role of a representative: EU rules distinguish qualified legal practitioners and representatives entered on the relevant professional lists. A general description such as ‘IP specialist’ does not establish eligibility to represent parties before the Office.

EU Designs Regulation and its reference to trade mark representation rules

Regulation (EU) 2026/715, Articles 115–116; Regulation (EU) 2017/1001, Articles 119–120

03 / IP

European Patent Office · EPO

Role of the authority: Examines and grants European patents and handles procedures including opposition. EPO is not a European Union office, and its geographical scope is not identical to the EU.
Role of a representative: The Convention provides for a professional-representative list and an exception for certain legal practitioners. Polish patent-attorney registration does not by itself mean entry on the EPO list. The individual’s actual qualifications must be checked.

European Patent Convention

EPC, Articles 133–134

04 / IP

World Intellectual Property Organization · WIPO

Role of the authority: Administers systems including PCT, Madrid trade marks and Hague designs. It does not replace every designated office and does not grant a patent with universal worldwide effect.
Role of a representative: Eligibility to act as an agent and the required authority depend on the system and stage. Acceptance as a representative before WIPO does not automatically authorise responding to a refusal before every national office.

WIPO: PCT Applicant’s Guide

PCT Applicant’s Guide, Chapters 3 and 5

05 / IP

Polish intellectual-property courts

Role of the authority: Civil IP matters fall within regional-court jurisdiction. Warsaw Regional Court has exclusive jurisdiction over the categories in Article 479⁹⁰ § 2: computer programs, inventions, utility models, semiconductor topographies, plant varieties and trade secrets of a technical nature.
Role of a representative: A patent attorney may represent parties in civil IP matters, including the statutory scope beyond industrial property. Mandatory representation has exceptions under the legislation and where the court grants an exemption. This is not an entitlement to act as defence counsel in criminal proceedings.

Polish Code of Civil Procedure

Articles 87, 87², 479⁸⁹–479⁹⁰

06 / IP

Warsaw Provincial Administrative Court and Supreme Administrative Court

Role of the authority: Review the legality of UPRP acts through statutory procedures. The Supreme Administrative Court hears admissible cassation appeals; it is not another trade mark or patent registration office.
Role of a representative: In industrial-property matters a patent attorney may act as representative and draft a cassation appeal under Article 175 § 3 point 2 of the Administrative Courts Procedure Act. That does not create a general competence in unrelated administrative matters.

Polish Administrative Courts Procedure Act

Articles 35 and 173–176

07 / IP

General Court and Court of Justice of the European Union

Role of the authority: The General Court reviews, among other things, EUIPO Boards of Appeal decisions. The Court of Justice decides EU-law questions through the applicable procedures; a preliminary reference is not an ordinary appeal against a national judgment.
Role of a representative: Direct actions have distinct representation requirements under Article 19 of the Statute. Eligibility before EUIPO does not establish eligibility before the EU courts. Preliminary-reference proceedings follow their own representation rules.

CURIA: Uniwersytet Wrocławski, representation requirements

Joined Cases C-515/17 P and C-561/17 P; ECLI:EU:C:2020:73; paragraphs 55–58

08 / IP

Unified Patent Court · UPC

Role of the authority: Hears specified European-patent and Unitary Patent matters within the UPC Agreement’s scope. Poland is outside the operational UP/UPC system, although a Polish business may be involved in proceedings concerning rights in territories covered by that system.
Role of a representative: Article 48 establishes separate criteria for appropriately authorised lawyers or European patent attorneys with the required additional qualifications. National patent-attorney status does not automatically satisfy them.

Agreement on a Unified Patent Court

2013/C 175/01; Articles 32 and 48

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