New industrial property regulations in Poland give the Supreme Administrative Court control over the legality of decisions issued by the Polish Patent Office. The new rules that came into force on August 22 last year overturn more than 60 years of administrative procedure where control was limited to extraordinary appeals against final sentences which could be filed only by administrative boards in clearly defined special situations. These appeals were examined by judges of the Chamber of Administration Labour and Social Insurance at the Supreme Court and until last August the Supreme Administrative Court (which was set up in 1980), did not examine any matters related to industrial property. Under Polish constitutional law the Supreme Administrative Court along with the Supreme Court, the Constitutional Tribunal and the Tribunal of State is the highest court in Poland.
