votes: An interview with Richard Wágner Senior Partner at Pokorný Wágner Partner Attorneys at Law Richard Wagner graduated from Charles University Faculty of Law in 1983 and subsequently worked in the Foreign Insurance Division at the Czech State Insurance Company in Prague In 1987 he became a senior research fellow at the Research Institute of Foreign Economic Relations Between the years 1991 1995 he was counsellor at the Permanent Mission of the Czech Republic to the UN Offi ce and other international organizations in Geneva and deputy permanent representative of the Czech Republic to the World Trade Organization General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade WTO GATT Since 1996 he has been senior partner at Pokorný Wágner Partner Attorneys at Law 46 Leaders Magazine II 2009 Photo Paul Pacey LAW LAGS BEHIND TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT
Leaders Magazine II 2009 47 Why did you start your own law firm sion of attorney at law hen my stay in Geneva ontemplated my profest by chance Radek Posince 1989 He told me to start his own law firm tive lawyer at that time lot We agreed to try it ack from Geneva at the was already arranged tarted We were three Cejnarová and I One w 34 lawyers and some How were the beginnings hen renowned firms had ket share We did not n for them and could ing the position of the s very important It canyour firm by your name w how se from the beginning inning it was not possis orders within the basic The only limitation was services only for entree developed a bit and d to specialise What do you specialise in al law by which we mean entrepreneur needs for dealing with specialised competition fusion and and financial markets ion We also engage in ntracts and labour law tellectual property law mpetition and litigations w WTO GATT You were in GATT when the negotiations on liberalisation of trade proceeded within the Uruguay Round How were these negotiations How was Czechoslovakia later the Czech Republic perceived ampered We came to of a free country unenon which it did not want cy towards introduction was very liberal both We supported the estabchanisms and their arnational market rules are called fast develon comparison to Central countries These countries such as India or Brazil that never experienced communism very intensely keep an eye on what they created at home Although their domestic system contained market mechanisms they did not want to give up certain protectionist restrictions that were primarily set up in their agriculture sector but not only there These states had very competent negotiators who had a relatively strong mandate from their governments not to open themselves In this respect it was a success that the Uruguay Round was completed Nevertheless I think it was extended by a year and the end was very hectic indeed At the end of negotiations delegates decided on the establishment of a new organization Yes and it was a bit of a surprise Approximately a year before the end of negotiations nobody thought or at least they gave no sign that another new organization would be established Suddenly big players like the US and EU presented the idea of creating the World Trade Organization They negotiated it before with some developing states that supported them The majority of states were very surprised and did know what to do We did not mind in principle but many states did because they did not participate in the negotiations and furthermore the establishment of a new organization was not in the mandate for the Uruguay Round It was thus clearly shown that if big states agree on something they also manage to enforce it Do you follow the current WTO negotiations I follow it only from a distance now When I came to GATT there were 74 contract parties but there are 150 of them there today I am rather sceptical whether it is possible to complete Doha negotiations when there are so many member states and the interests they represent are often very contradictory What is your biggest case in the area of intellectual property law For example we act for the Nestlé concern especially in litigation This company suffers from exploitation of its famous trademarks or from the use of proper names like typically Nescafé Classic or Maggi Nescafé Classic is something that our client considers its first tradition and litigates with those who use this name for their own products I can also mention Vodafone campaign with antlers In this case we acted for Telefónica O2 and had a preliminary injunction issued that banned this campaign Are there any substantial differences in international and European law on intellectual property protection Generally it is possible to say that European legislation is not different from international usage and principles The European Union managed to enforce many things into the international agreement on intellectual property law Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights TRIPS The area of intellectual property is internationally rather strongly unified but there are still differences US copyright is based on slightly different rules than the European continental law Typically the authorial rights are inalienable in continental law but in the USA when you sell them you can never have them back Continental law knows about stealing of property rights but not personalities In connection with Internet development authorial rights have been more and more violated How does the law cope with it The internet is such a phenomenon today it quite undermines the existing principles on which the authorial right is based I do not say that it makes the law toothless but it is a matter that lags behind technological development The possibilities of legal regulation without the law being based on specific cases are limited It is evident that the gap is widening If you assess your past 13 years do you like your job Do you regret your decision to work in a law firm I have never thought that I would end up like this However now I am glad that I work as an attorney at law Where we are and the targets I have with my partner these are attributes that keep me at this job There are moments when I wake up at night and wonder if I did everything well It is not possible to resist it because we are responsible not only by our reputation but also by our property In this branch it is probably twice as true that a good reputation is difficult to get but easy to lose Then it is lost forever and it is very difficult to gain it back if ever It is very binding for us On the other hand it is compensated by a good feeling when something comes out well What are your hobbies I like reading films and music I started to play golf with my wife four years ago It is an acceptable sport for us non sport people because there is reasonable amount of exercise Furthermore it is very relaxing and you meet very interesting people I mainly play during the weekends and do not avoid the tournaments By Zuzana Kasáková českou verzi naleznete na www leadersmagazine cz My way to the profess was rather tortuous Wh was nearing an end I co sional future Then I met korný who I had known s that he would have liked t Although I was not an act the idea intrigued me a together When I came ba end of 1995 everything On January 1 1996 we st Radek Pokorný Andrea assistant helped us Now students work in our firm beginnin We started in a time wh a very significant mark present real competitio build our law firm Build law firm on the market is not be omitted You build your knowledge and know We wanted to speciali However at the very beg ble We worked on various focus on commercial law that we provided legal s preneurs As soon as w could afford it we started specialis We focus on commercia all legal services that the their enterprise We are d areas such as economic c acquisition M A bank or personal data protect revisions of business con I specifically focus on in advertisement unfair com and international trade law whe we Czechoslovak We were relatively pa GATT as representatives cumbered by the past o to insist and whose polic of market mechanisms inwards and outwards W lishment of market mec rangement within intern The countries that now a ping were very different in and Eastern European c
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