7

Protecting designs exhibited at trade fairs

17 November 2025 | Knowledge, News, The Right Focus

How can intellectual property and designs that have already been presented to the public, for example at trade fairs, be protected? All you need to do is exercise your exhibition priority right. This mechanism allows you to file an application for such a design at a later date without affecting its novelty. Let’s see how it works in practice.

Protecting intellectual property without giving up trade fairs

In recent years, the exhibition and trade fair industry has experienced highly dynamic growth. New events are constantly emerging and, most importantly, well-established events continue to take place. The most popular of these focus on new technologies, agriculture, the defence industry, construction, packaging, and the food sector. These events provide the perfect opportunity to showcase the latest products and solutions that have never been displayed before.

Unfortunately, many people who develop new designs are unaware that showing a design to the public may prevent them from subsequently obtaining protection for it from the Polish Patent Office. In such cases, the design may be deemed to lack novelty – a requirement for registration.

However, there is an exception to this rule that may help in such situations.

Exhibition priority

If a design is publicly displayed for the first time at an official exhibition (e.g. a trade fair or international exhibition), the applicant can claim priority. This means that, despite the design having been already disclosed, filing an application with the Patent Office within a specified timeframe will be treated as if it had taken place on the date of the exhibition.

But can this apply to any event?

This privilege only applies to exhibitions listed by the President of the Polish Patent Office via an announcement in the official gazette, Monitor Polski.

Importantly, the exhibition must be credible and have an established reputation and long tradition. To be included on such a list, an organiser must have run the exhibition for at least 5 years, with no more than a 2-year gap between editions and with the number of exhibitors being at least 50.

The 2025 calendar of ‘certified’ exhibitions includes the following:

  • DREMA – International Trade Fair of Machines, Tools and Components for the Wood and Furniture Industries
  • POLAGRA – Food – Horeca – Foodtech
  • POLECO – International Environmental Protection Fair
  • POZNAŃ GAME ARENA (PGA) – Entertainment and Multimedia Fair

It is also worth bearing in mind that there will be several more events before the end of the year at which the right of priority can be exercised. These include:

  • Targi Rękodzieło i Przedmioty Artystyczne (Handicrafts and Artistic Objects Fair)
  • CAVALIADA POZNAŃ: Equestrian Equipment and Accessories Fair

The application for a design claiming exhibition priority must be filed within 6 months of the date of the first public display at the exhibition.

Summary

The exhibition priority exception is undoubtedly a concession by the legislature towards entrepreneurs who want to protect their designs.

Thanks to this exception, they can preserve the novelty of their designs despite prior disclosure. It also enables them to prepare their application without haste and facilitates the protection of designs presented at trade fairs, shows or exhibitions.

Any questions? Contact us

Latest Knowledge

Announcement of Income Tax Reform

On 19 August, during a press conference, the Prime Minister announced a package of tax changes planned for next year. According to the announcement, the reform is intended, on the one hand, to ease the burden on the middle class and, on the other, to shift a greater fiscal burden onto the wealthiest individuals and the largest companies. We take a look at the proposals included in the announced package and explain what they might mean for taxpayers.

Family foundations and the tax authorities: what draft bill UD447 proposes and why this is not the end of the troubles

Family foundations were intended to provide entrepreneurs with a stable framework for intergenerational wealth management. Yet not even four years have passed since the first such foundations were established, and the rules governing their taxation are set to be changed once again. This is because the scale of interest and the practical problems uncovered have overwhelmed the drafters of the legislation, as best illustrated by the figures – 927 applications for individual tax rulings and 77 opinions issued from the Head of the National Revenue Administration. This does not, however, mean that family foundations are being used on a massive scale for aggressive tax optimisation. A significant proportion of the queries concerned simply how to correctly apply the complex regulations.

NIS2 and the National Cybersecurity System Act in transport: what you need to do before October 2026

The amended Act on the National Cybersecurity System (UKSC) has been in force since 3 April 2026. For transport sector undertakings, this means a specific compliance timeline, including an obligation to register with the National Cybersecurity System (KSC) registry by 3 October 2026. Failure to do so may result in substantial financial penalties, coupled with the risk of personal liability for senior management. Not every undertaking, however, automatically falls within the scope of the new regime. Read on to find out whether your organisation is affected and what you need to do before the deadline for preparation.

Family foundations: the government has done the maths and presented the bill

Three years. That’s how long we’ve been waiting for what the Council of Ministers had seen in the data from the outset – and has now disclosed in its review of the Family Foundation Act. The document not only diagnoses the problems, but also previews substantial changes to rules that founders and their advisers treated as settled and stable. And therein lies a problem that goes far beyond tax matters. If the rules of the game are changed while the game is being played, there can be neither planning stability nor trust in the law. It is no coincidence that one of the greatest concerns among entrepreneurs considering setting up a foundation is not the level of taxation, but the stability of the legal framework – which today is once again being called into question.

What the new swiss franc act means for banks

We now have a new Act on Special Measures for the Adjudication of Cases Concerning Loan Agreements Denominated in or Indexed to the Swiss Franc. The provisions come into force 14 days after publication. So now is a good time to look at what lies ahead and what banks should be doing today.

New draft Pay Transparency Act – what has changed since December 2025?

A second version of the draft act on strengthening the application of the right to equal pay for equal work or work of equal value between men and women has now been published. It refines procedures and deadlines and introduces a new supervisory body. We have already discussed the changes affecting the recruitment stage and the three pillars of the forthcoming pay transparency framework, noting that Poland will miss the EU transposition deadline of 7 June 2026. Now, we take a closer look at the further changes, new developments and risks that have emerged in the latest, April version of the draft.

Payment Services Regulation (PSR) – between consumer protection and due diligence

The draft Payment Services Regulation (PSR) is one of the most significant elements of the reform of the EU legal framework for payment services. Its principal aim is to enhance the security of cashless transactions and to reduce the scale of financial fraud, in particular that arising from the growth of digital channels. At the same time, the new rules are intended to introduce a liability model that will not result in risk being transferred entirely to financial institutions, whilst retaining an important role for independent due diligence on the part of the user.

Energy deregulation – key changes for businesses and energy consumers

The President has now signed the Energy Deregulation Act (UDER92). The new provisions cover both the relationships between energy undertakings and consumers, and matters relating to investment, district heating, and the administrative obligations of energy market participants. The Act introduces changes in the areas of billing, communication with consumers, grid connection, and the operations of undertakings in the energy and district heating sectors. We set out the key points to note.

Banking sector overview | Banking today and tomorrow | July 2026

Under the draft legislation, banks will be required to offer existing borrowers a switch from WIBOR-based to POLSTR-based interest rates, a mechanism intended to speed up the voluntary transition of financial instruments to the new benchmark. The banking sector has responded positively to the proposal, according to Tadeusz Białek, President of the Polish Bank Association.

Contact us:

Tomasz Szambelan

Tomasz Szambelan

Advocate / Counsel / Intellectual and Industrial Property Law

+48 608 593 042

t.szambelan@kochanski.pl