The Polish Copyright Law provides for a number of different ways to compensate for losses incurred as a result of an infringement of economic rights. From the beginning, the most controversial was the possibility of claiming the amount twice or even three times more (in case of culpable infringement) than the remuneration for the consent to the exploitation of the rights.
The indicated provision created a risk that the aggrieved party would become enriched beyond measure. It was also said that this provision was simply too harsh for the infringer.
The discussions seemingly ended judgment of the Constitutional Court of Poland – in 2015 the Constitutional Court of Poland stated that the indicated provision was inconsistent with the Polish Constitution as regards the possibility for the author to claim three times the relevant remuneration as compensation.
After that, in a new reality, it was no longer possible to claim three times the remuneration, but the problem remained. Currently, compensation may still be claimed, but only up to twice the remuneration of the legal use of the copyrighted work.
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