The rights to the name of the artistic ensemble

Act of 30 June 2000 Industrial property law (Dz.U. z 2023 r. poz. 1170)

link to provision: https://isap.sejm.gov.pl/isap.nsf/download.xsp/WDU20010490508/U/D20010508Lj.pdf 

Article 129¹ Failure to grant protection to a sign
1. Rights of protection shall not be granted for signs which: (…)
6) have been applied for protection in bad faith;

Article 132¹ Effects of a legitimate objection
1. After consideration of the opposition referred to in Article 152^6a(1) or Article 152¹⁷(1), and having deemed it justified, rights of protection shall not be granted for signs:
1) the use of which infringes third parties’ personal or economic rights;

Thesis of the judgment of the WSA in the BREAKOUT case: As a general rule, the right to the name of an artistic ensemble is attributed to all its members. However, the situation is different when it concerns an ensemble formed, named and led by one of its members in such a clear and obvious manner that it is considered to be that person’s ensemble. Consequently, there are no grounds for attributing the right to the name of the ensemble to its other members.

The reasons of the judgment of the WSA (Voivodship Administrative Court) in Warsaw refers to the judgment of the SN (Supreme Court) of 30 May 1988, ref. no. I CR 124/88, cited by the WSA, in which the SN held that the general rule: “is the attribution of the right to the name of an artistic ensemble to all its members. However, the Supreme Court pointed out that the situation is different when it concerns an ensemble formed, named and led by one of its members in such a clear and obvious manner that it comes to be regarded as that person’s ensemble.”

The WSA held that: “a common right to a name will not be enjoyed by all members of an ensemble if one leading figure in the ensemble can clearly be distinguished from the group of musicians whose participation in the formation of the ensemble and its day-to-day functioning is dominant.”
To find the CDs with the music of Mr Tadeusz NALEPA, it is enough to type “BREAKOUT BLUES” in Google.