The Court of Justice of the European Union, in a judgment important not only for IT environments, decided that if a computer program does not work, in certain cases it can be decompiled

The buyer of a computer program has the right to decompile it in order to remove errors and thus does not infringe the copyright, the Court of Justice of the European Union found in a judgment important not only for IT communities, on 6 October 2021.

Computer programs are considered works and therefore are subject to copyright in Poland. However, these are specific works, therefore, at the EU level, a separate directive on the legal protection of computer programs (91/250/EEC) has been dedicated to them. It regulates a number of technological aspects related to the use of software, including its possible decompilation. The buyer of the program usually does not have access to its source code. He gets it in the form of machine code. In order to change something in it, it is necessary to decompile it. The question, however, is when is it legally permissible.

Decompilation therefore constitutes an alteration of the program’s code, which involves a reproduction – at least a partial and temporary one – of that code, and a translation of the form of that code.

Decompilation of a computer program involves the performance of acts, namely the reproduction of the program code and the translation of the form of that code, which in fact come within the exclusive rights of the author, as defined in Article 4(a) and (b) of Directive 91/250.

EU legislature thus intended to limit the scope of the exception for interoperability, as laid down in that provision, to circumstances in which the interoperability of an independently created program with other programs cannot be carried out by any other means, but only by means of decompilation of the program concerned.

More

The planned 5G auction in Poland has already aroused quite lively industry discussions regarding the establishment of its basic regulatory assumptions.

The imbalance between the demand and supply of frequency resources makes it necessary to allocate them in the selection procedure in Poland, based on Polish legal regulations, e.g. on the European Code of Electronic Communications, which should be implemented by December 21, 2020 at the latest. The draft of the new Polish Act – Electronic Communications Law is already delayed, which is important for the conditions of the 5G auctions in Poland.

Polish law distinguishes three types of so-called selection procedures: competition, tender and auction. The competition does not apply in the case of 5G, the tender and auction come to the fore in this respect.

The basic difference between a tender and an auction is expressed in the method of evaluating the bids. Pursuant to the Polish Act – Telecommunications Law, the criteria for evaluating bids in the tender are compliance with the conditions of competition, the amount declared by the tender participant and other objective criteria. On the other hand, the criterion for evaluating the bids in the auction is only the amount declared by the auction participant.

More

In the era of COVID-19 pandemic, online shopping has become even more popular. Electronic payments are one of the most important, if not the most important segment of modern finance. Many companies have been quick to recognize this trend by introducing the BNPL (buy now pay later) service. This service allows you to postpone the payment for purchases for up to 30 days. However, most importantly it is a free service with no hidden additional costs as long as the buyer pays for the product on time. In case the consumer does not pay, he will have to pay commissions or be charged interest. In practice it means that the buyer pays for the product after receiving it, gets acquainted with it, checks whether it suits him and whether it works properly. With the rapid progress of digitalization, consumers’ approach to shopping and paying for the latter is changing. Such a facility is useful especially in the case of fashion shopping, where the customer has the opportunity to try the product before making the final decision. This service enjoys considerable interest in Poland and worldwide, e.g. in the United Kingdom it has already been used by nearly 33 percent of consumers who shop online.

Buy now pay later in Poland – legal regulations and market trends

More

A Global Livestream Experience

KIELTYKA GLADKOWSKI will take part in an international conference organized by GRC World Forums on latest developments, strategies and insights across financial crime. FinCrime World Forum brings together a globally engaged audience to discuss, challenge debate and address how we can make the world a safer place. The event will take place from 27 – 28 October 2021 in an online format. The conference will include the following panels:

· Turbo-Charging the Regulators

· The Hidden Risks of ‘Tech-Fin’

· From RegTech to EffectTech

· Transparency Vs. Kleptocracy

· Sanctions: Weapon of Choice, Systemic Solutions to a Systemic Problem

These issues are in line with the activities of our law firm and its specialisation in financial crimes, cybersecurity and technology.

The event will discuss topics such as:

• The recent and ongoing regulatory changes across the U.S., Europe, and Asia-Pacific region
  • The financial crime risks arising from “financialised technology”
  • How sanctions can be used as a weapon against financial crime
  • The root causes behind corrupt flows of klepto graphic funds
  • The role of financial services providers, data, and tech in tackling the problem
  • How such risks impact FinTech and the wider financial services sector
  • Using synthetic datasets to test platform settings
  • How cooperation between the public and private sectors has developed to fight COVID-19 scams
  • How firms can position themselves as supportive partners in change
  • The use of automated penetration testing against financial crime controls
  • The problem of ‘left behind’ jurisdictions where regulators have fewer resources
  •  How actors from across sectors are repurposing FinTech in non-financial services contexts
  • The development of commercial “typology libraries” for use in platforms
  • How broad „democratic” and “authoritarian” blocs are using economic and financial statecraft against each other—and how financial services providers can get caught in the middle
  • How firms should approach compliance challenges in a world where sanctions regimes compete rather than complement one another
  • The role that service architectures, central bank digital currencies, crypto, and blockchain could play in providing a connected view of financial crime risks
  • How states are seeking to deal with kleptocracy through corporate transparency
  • Whether ongoing know-your-customer (KYC) utilities and private sector joint-monitoring experiments can contribute to effective systemic financial crime solutions.
    
    

More

The withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union had an impact on the rules on the flow of personal data. From that point on, the UK became a third country as defined in the GDPR, the consequence of which – among other things – was intended to limit the free flow of personal data to and from the EU. However, this has not happened. Initially, on December 24, 2020, UK and EU representatives signed a Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) that allowed the free transfer of personal data from the UK to the EU 6 months longer.

New decisions of the European Commission

This year the European Commission has adopted two implementing decisions finding an adequate level of protection for personal data in the UK: implementing decision dated 28.06.2021 in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the adequate protection of personal data by the United Kingdom and implementing decision of 28.06.2021 in accordance with Directive 2016/680 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the adequate protection of personal data by the United Kingdom.

More