Anna Sokołowska-Ławniczak, PhD

Patent and Trademark AttorneyPartner

Bio

At the Law Firm, she leads the Industrial Property and Brand Management Team as part of the Intellectual Property Practice. She advises on every aspect of industrial property rights, from developing strategies through protecting individual items of industrial property to maintaining and enforcing industrial property rights under Polish, European and international procedures.

Anna has extensive experience in litigation before the Polish Patent Office and the EU Intellectual Property Office, as well as in court disputes concerning industrial property, combating unfair competition, and copyright law. She manages complex projects aimed at obtaining and maintaining industrial property rights.

She also advises on issues at the point of convergence of industrial property law and other areas of law, such as advertising, marketing and public relations. She draws up legal opinions on the registrability of marks and other items of intellectual property, and use of trademarks in the course of trade and in advertising campaigns.

Her client portfolio encompasses companies in industries such as foodstuffs, footwear, pharmaceuticals, new technologies, research and development, and various light industries.

She is a member of the Polish Chamber of Patent Attorneys, AIPPI, Marques and INTA and an arbitrator for the Arbitration Court for Internet Domains at the Polish Chamber of Information Technology and Telecommunications.

Anna speaks at Polish and international conferences and provides training . She has received individual recommendations in the rankings: Chambers Global in Intellectual Property (Band 4), Chambers Europe in Intellectual Property (Band 4), Legal 500 Europe in Intellectual Property, WTR 1000 and IAM Patent 1000.

Anna Sokołowska-Ławniczak holds a doctorate in law – she delivered her thesis on trademark law in 2014 at the University of Lorraine in France. She is a graduate of law of the University of Gdańsk and a graduate of television, cinema and multimedia law of the Jean Moulin Lyon 3 University in France. She has also completed postgraduate studies in industrial property law at the University of Warsaw.

She advises Clients in Polish, English and French.


Related news

Publications 7
05 Sep 2023

Jurisdictional Briefing, Poland: Is it easy for a brand to be eco in Poland and the EU?

In the latest issue of The Trademark Lawyer Magazine you can find the article written by Anna Sokołowska-Ławniczak, Ph.D. and Kaja Seń that details the changing protection available for “eco” trademarks resulting from the bid to prevent greenwashing.

28 Dec 2022

Jurisdictional Briefing, Poland: merely providing proof of reputation is not sufficient

In the latest issue of The Trademark Lawyer Magazine you can find the article written by Anna Sokołowska-Ławniczak, PhD and Kaja Seń that provide key guidance for protecting trademarks with a preexisting reputation.

01 Oct 2022

Can non-tangible assets infringe tangible assets?

In the latest issue of The Trademark Lawyer Magazine you can find the article written by Anna Sokołowska-Ławniczak Ph.D., that reviews the StockX vs. Nike to see if the repeated sale of non-tangible asset that represents a tangible asset is infringing or not.

20 Jul 2022

Is Polish industrial property law about to be revolutionized?

Dr Anna Sokołowska-Ławniczak Ph.D., Partner details the envisaged amendments to industrial property law.

20 Feb 2022

Will the Polish Patent Office operate more quickly than the EUIPO?

Dr Anna Sokołowska-Ławniczak Ph.D. of Traple Konarski Podrecki & Partners questions the proposed changes to Industrial Property Law currently being drafted in Poland, asking if they are all actually beneficial for the industry.

28 Oct 2021

Trademarks Poland 2022

Trademarks Poland 2022 is now live! We encourage you to read the publication prepared by Anna Sokołowska-Ławniczak Ph.D., Pattent Attorney. The guide comprehensively describes issues related to trademarks in Polish jurisdiction, including application or court proceedings.

06 Oct 2021

Is Poland innovative enough?

Anna Sokołowska-Ławniczak and Katarzyna Puchała discuss the recent patenting statistics in Poland and what it is reflecting about innovation in a new article in The Patent Lawyer Magazine.

News 8
23 Apr 2024

INTA 2024 Annual Meeting in Atlanta

Beata Matusiewicz-Kulig and Anna Sokołowska-Ławniczak Ph.D. will represent our Intellectual Property team at the International Trademark Association (INTA) Annual Meeting in Atlanta from May 18th to May 22nd.

Each year, several thousand professionals from all over the world attend INTA Annual Meeting: lawyers, intellectual property specialists, business representatives, and academics to discuss and exchange their knowledge and experience together.

The 146th INTA Annual Meeting is held in Atlanta, where Coca-Cola, one of the strongest brands, has been established. The theme of the program for INTA 2024 is “The Business of Innovation”. The debates will focus on how creativity, change, and technology are transforming the way IP professionals conduct business.

27 Mar 2024

The Legal 500 (Legalease) EMEA 2024

We are proud to share that Traple Konarski Podrecki & Partners has been recognized in 5 practice areas by The Legal 500 (Legalease) EMEA 2024!

14 Mar 2024

Chambers Europe 2024

We are pleased to announce that Traple Konarski Podrecki & Partners has been honored in the prestigious ranking of the best law firms by Chambers and Partners Europe 2024.

15 Feb 2024

Chambers Global 2024

The intellectual property law team has once again been recognized in the prestigious ranking of top law firms by Chambers and Partners Global in Poland 2024 (Band 2).

02 Oct 2023

INTA Committees 2024-2025

We are excited to announce that our experts have been selected as members of International Trademark Association (INTA)’s Committee for upcoming 2024-2025 term:

29 Jun 2023

IAM Patent 1000 Ranking

We are pleased to announce that the Intellectual Property Law team was once again distinguished in the prestigious ranking of the best law firms IAM Patent 1000.
 
The TKP law firm received a silver award in the Litigation and Transactions category.
 
Individual silver recommendations in the field of Litigation went to:

23 Jun 2023

TKP lawyers has joined MARQUES

We are happy to announce that the TKP intellectual property team has joined MARQUES, an organization of brand owners and trademark protection experts. The organization aims to educate and promote the professional development of brand owners in the selection, management, protection, and exploitation of their trade marks in international trade.

TKP lawyers involved in the Marques international forum are:

24 Sep 2021

Anna Sokołowska-Ławniczak Ph.D. has been appointed to the INTA Unfair Competition Committee

The International Trademark Association (INTA) has announced a list of industry leading member volunteers who will serve on its committees for the 2022-2023 term. We are glad to inform that our Partner Anna Sokołowska-Ławniczak Ph.D. has been appointed to the INTA Unfair Competition Committee.
 
“The Unfair Competition Committee will monitor developments in treaties, case law, legislation and implementation in various jurisdictions, complete analysis and propose policy recommendations to the Board. Work includes report and submission writing, interaction with related organizations, and advocacy in conjunction with relevant INTA committees and staff.”

Events 5
23 Apr 2024

INTA 2024

Beata Matusiewicz-Kulig and Anna Sokołowska-Ławniczak Ph.D. will represent our Intellectual Property team at the International Trademark Association (INTA) Annual Meeting in Atlanta from May 18th to May 22nd.

Each year, several thousand professionals from all over the world attend INTA Annual Meeting: lawyers, intellectual property specialists, business representatives, and academics to discuss and exchange their knowledge and experience together.

The 146th INTA Annual Meeting is held in Atlanta, where Coca-Cola, one of the strongest brands, has been established. The theme of the program for INTA 2024 is “The Business of Innovation”. The debates will focus on how creativity, change, and technology are transforming the way IP professionals conduct business.

15 Sep 2023

MARQUES 2023

Anna Sokołowska-Ławniczak Ph.D. , Partner and Justyna Sitnikow, LL.M., Senior Associate will represent TKP at 2023 MARQUES Annual Conference in Berlin from September 19th to September 22nd.

If you are also attending 2023 Marques Annual Conferance and would like to connect, please feel free to reach out to us via email: marketing@traple.pl

18 Apr 2023

INTA 2023

Anna Sokołowska-Ławniczak Ph.D., Partner and Beata Matusiewicz-Kulig, Co-Managing Partner will represent TKP at the INTA Annual Meeting in Singapore from May 16th to May 20th.

If you are also attending INTA Annual Meeting and would like to connect, please feel free to reach out to us via email: inta@traple.pl

20 Oct 2022

GC Summit Poland 2022

We are looking forward to seeing you on October 26 The Legal 500  GC Summit: Poland. Anna Sokołowska-Ławniczak will give a lecture entitled “With the rise of technology, is it now harder to protect your brand?”. During the meeting our Law Firm will also be represented by Xawery Konarski and Beata Matusiewicz-Kulig.

Blog 6
15 Dec 2023

(Non-)obvious assessment of trademarks for medicinal products

Consumers are looking at medicinal product trademarks with greater precision. Because these products have an effect on health, the issue of similarity between trademarks for products on this kind is not always considered in the same way as trademarks for goods and services in other industries. In the case of medicinal products and pharmaceuticals, even slight differences in brand names might be important. This was the standpoint adopted recently by the Supreme Administrative Court , which stated that even a change of merely the last two letters of a mark can be significant. The court also found that in the case of medicine, a name that combines the name of the main chemical ingredient of the medicine in question or name of an illness for which the medicine is intended with certain prefixes or stereotypical endings is a fanciful name.

15 Jun 2023

When a business party applies for a trademark in bad faith

Applying for a trademark that is identical to or resembles (with respect to a key element of distinctive character) marks held by a different business undertaking once a business relationship has ended is application made in bad faith.

26 Dec 2022

Merely providing proof of reputation of a trademark is not sufficient

The Supreme Administrative Court in Warsaw has confirmed in a recent judgment that in a court case there is a requirement to prove that a trademark is a trademark with reputation – the judgment comes in a case concerning a claim for invalidation of a trademark.

23 Dec 2021

Is Poland innovative enough?

EPO and PPO statistics show that the answer to the question is Poland innovative Enough should be – “not exactly”. There has been some increase in the number of patent applications from Poland (before the EPO) or in Poland (before the PPO) compared to past years, but we are still a long way behind the major players. Also, as the summary below shows, the most innovative entities in Poland are universities and public research organizations, not private companies.

14 Oct 2021

Will the Polish Patent Office operate more quickly than the EUIPO?

This is the objective aspired to according to the premises of an amendment currently being drafted to the Industrial Property Law – procedures are to be handled more quickly and be more applicant-friendly. This is a very interesting prospect, especially as the bill itself is also intended to be passed quickly, as soon as QI 2022, but what else is behind the envisaged changes, and are all of the changes a good thing?

22 Jun 2021

Even faster IPR registration in Poland?

For almost two months now, a fast-track procedure has existed for registration of a trademark or a design with the Polish Patent Office, modelled on the system that operates at the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO). This mechanism is intended to speed up registration procedures, but there are certain stipulations.

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