Department of Human Rights and Intellectual Property Law

Research staff:

Assoc. Prof. Maciej Barczewski, DSc (Head of the Department) [e-mail]

Assoc. Prof. Sebastian Sykuna, DSc [e-mail]

Łukasz Kodłubański, PhD [e-mail]

Anna Podolska, PhD [e-mail]

Ewelina Szatkowska, PhD [e-mail]

Małgorzata Węgrzak, PhD [e-mail]

Joanna Marszałek, MA [e-mail]

Department secretary:

Hanna Rutkiewicz, MA

e-mail: sekretariat06@prawo.ug.edu.pl

Scientific development and research of the Department
on the 50th Anniversary of the Faculty of Law and Administration (1970-2020)

The Department of Human Rights and Intellectual Property Law was created in late 2019 from the merger of the Center for Intellectual Property Law headed by prof. UG, dr hab. Maciej Barczewski and the Department of Human Rights and Legal Ethics headed by prof. UG, dr hab. Sebastian Sykuna. Prof. UG, dr hab. Maciej Barczewski is now head of the Department.

            The main joint initiative of the employees of the Department was the publication of the monograph Etyka prawnicza. Zagadnienia podstawowe, C.H. Beck 2018. The publication sought both to explain the basic concepts and institutions of legal ethics common to all legal professions, and to describe the distinctive characteristics that distinguish them. It also outlines ethical issues that can arise in the work of lawyers. The editor of the book was dr hab. Sebastian Sykuna, prof. UG.

            Other monographs authored or co-authored by the employees include: M. Hermann, S. Sykuna (Eds.): Wykładnia prawa: tradycja i perspektywy, Monografie Prawnicze, C.H. Beck 2016; D. Jaroszewska-Choraś: Biometria - aspekty prawne, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Gdańskiego 2016; D. Jaroszewska-Choraś, A. Kilińska-Pękacz, A. Wedeł-Domaradzka (Eds.): Rodzina i prawo, Wydawnictwo Kazimierza Wielkiego 2017; A. Brodecka: Supradyscyplinarna analiza praw człowieka, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Gdańskiego 2016; M. Zbucka: Skutki prawne śmierci pracodawcy, Monografie, Wolters Kluwer Polska 2018; A. Podolska: Zasada wzajemnego zaufania państw członkowskich UE do swoich wymiarów sprawiedliwości, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Gdańskiego 2019. The Department staff have also participated in the creation of collective works and have authored numerous scientific articles. In addition, they regularly attend the conventions of the departments of theory and philosophy of law.

Among the most important collective publications of the Centre's staff was the monograph Value of Information: Intellectual Property, Privacy and Big Data edited by Maciej Barczewski, Peter Lang Publishing 2018, prepared as part of an international research team comprising scientists from Poland, the US, and Austria, with the participation of practitioners such as Attorney General of the United States. The second major publication was Leksykon prawa własności intelektualnej. 100 podstawowych pojęć edited by Maciej Barczewski and Ewelina Szatkowska, C. H. Beck 2019.

            The Centre's staff also published the following monographs: M. Barczewski, Intellectual property rights in the WTO and access to medicines, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Gdańskiego 2016, E. Kowalska, Własność zabytku a dyskrecjonalna władza konserwatorska, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Gdańskiego 2018. They also co-authored several collections of scholarly works, both in Polish and English.

            As part of its organisational activities, the Centre's staff prepared five scientific conferences, including two international ones. Among them: Value of Information: Intellectual Property, Privacy and Big Data (20 Nov 2015) and IP in the Creative Sector (27-30 Jun 2018). In June 2018, the Centre also organised the International Summer School of Intellectual Property Law. Moreover, at the end of 2018, the Centre led the University of Gdańsk to conclude a cooperation agreement with the European Patent Office (EPO) and the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO).

1. Research issues

The scope of research conducted at the Department includes, inter alia, human rights law, intellectual property law, including copyright and industrial property law, issues of legal ethics, including legal professions and business ethics, as well as new technology law.

2. Teaching career

The Department's teaching activities include lectures, workshops, as well as, proseminars and seminars for undergraduate, master and doctoral students in the fields of Law, Administration, Criminology, Law in Administration and Economy, European and International Business Law and European Business and Administration in English. They cover issues that are primarily the subject of research in the Department, i.e. human rights, intellectual property law, including copyright and industrial property law, as well as legal ethics. Course subjects include: legal ethics, general ethics, jurisprudence, human rights protection, the judicial system, and legal protection bodies. In addition, there are lectures in the major of intellectual property law, copyright law and the fight against unfair competition, industrial property law, the system of legal protection authorities, and a general lecture on 21st-century human rights. In addition to teaching activities at the Faculty of Law and Administration, the Department staff also teaches at other faculties and fields of study at the University of Gdańsk.