UOKiK accuses ZAiKS of monopolistic practices

The Office for Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) has accused ZAiKS (the intellectual property rights watchdog) of using unfair monopolistic practices. UOKiK claims the ZAiKS "blackmails" CD and cassette producers by refusing to sign contracts with them or even by threatening to terminate those already signed unless they pay for holograms. Startling, a Krako w-based company which has turned to UOKiK to investigate the issue, stresses that it does not protest against the obligation to label every product with a hologram to prove its legality, but does not want to be saddled with the production costs. Although ZAiKS claims it lacks the financial resources to pay for the production of holograms, being too tied up in the fight against piracy on other fronts, UOKiK's president Cezary Banasinski calls ZAiKS's activity monopolistic. He claims that ZAiKS has an obligation to provide authentification holograms, rather than the right to grant a license to a given producer. "ZAiKS is the largest Polish copyright manager. It rep resents over 8,000 Polish artists as well as over 2.5 million foreign songwriters. Effectively, ZAiKS represents the entire world music repertoire in Poland," says Elzbieta Anders of UOKiK. In related news, UOKiK has ruled that the removal of cash registers from client service offices, ordered by TPSA, is against the Telecommunications Law. (Gazeta Wyborcza, Oct. 12-13, p. 30) A.Z.