IPT italy

In January 2012, the Italian antitrust authority found Pfizer liable for abuse of dominant position in connection with the enforcement of its patent rights. Pfizer has been condemned to pay a fine of 10.6 mlo Euro.

After the recent issues on TV format rights the debate is now ignited over film producers' rights.

On January 25, 2012 the General Court of the European Union ruled that the mark Viaguara could not be registered as a Community trade mark for drinks as such mark is likely to take an unfair advantage of the repute of the very well-known mark Viagra.

The draft decree on liberalization and consumer protection, discussed in these days by the Italian Governemnt, contains a provision (Art. 27) according to which the Italian Medicines Agency (AIFA) "does not have the power to assess the existence of patent or industrial protection" within the proceeding for the granting of a marketing authorization to a generic medicine.

The obligations for ISPs under Italian law might considerably change in the next future.

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) upheld the General Court's decision on the case Edwin Co v. Elio Fiorucci, stating that the holder of a well-known personal name is entitled to prevent its use as a Community trademark, where there are national laws in place supporting this level of protection. This important decision came up at the end of a long proceeding in which Mr. Fiorucci attempted to protect the personal ownership of his name.[Read More]

Italy has two years to transpose the new European directive concerning the extension of the protection of the rights of performers and phonogram producers on music recordings within the EU from the current 50 years to 70 years.

For more than five years the Italian PTO was expected to actually implement the possibility to oppose trademark applications, that day has finally come![Read More]

Good news for trademark owners! From July 2011 it will be easier to prevent the registration of identical or similar marks thanks to the launch of the opposition procedure in Italy.

The EU Commission has just published a proposal for a new Regulation concerning customs enforcement of intellectual property rights (IPRs) to repeal Council Regulation 1383/2003.[Read More]

If this case law is confirmed by the other Italian IP Courts, originators will benefit from a straightened level of patent protection. In fact, while generics producers will be entitled to conduct pre-patent expiry testing work, they will not be allowed to apply for marketing authorization until 1 year before the expiry of the patent on the active principle. As a result, in light of the duration of the marketing authorization process, originators will likely benefit from a further period of exclusivity after patent expiry.

Another court measure against online piracy in Italy.

In the never ending fight against online piracy one of the most controversial topic is the alleged liability of Internet Service Providers (ISP). A new opinion was issued yesterday by Advocate General Cruz Villalón in a case which is pending before the European Court of Justice.[Read More]

On 16 February the EU Parliament adopted a resolution on a new directive proposal regarding the prevention of the entry into the legal supply chain of medicinal products which are falsified in relation to their identity, history or source.[Read More]

Today the EU General Court decided a trade mark case brought by Formula One Licensing BV and excluded a risk of confusion between the F1 Logotype and the trade mark F1 - LIVE for goods and services related to the Formula Once motor racings.[Read More]

On 18 January 2011 the XIII Commission of the Italian Chamber of Deputies (Agriculture) approved a new bill regarding the labeling of food products and quality checks. This is aimed at protecting products made in Italy against counterfeiting conducts, with the final view of preserving the health of consumers resident in Italy. The bill will soon be approved by the President of the Republic. We will be update you as soon as the law comes into force. 

A UK Court has recently issued a decision which may have an impact on the online news market. According to the Court, providers of paid news monitoring and aggregation services which send their customers links to news published by others commit an act of copyright infringement if they do not obtain the consent from the relevant publishers.[Read More]

The European Court of Justice has issued an interesting decision banning in B2B transactions the so called "private copy levy" i.e. the EU Copyright Directive allows EU Member States to introduce an excepction to the exclusive right of authors, performers and producers to reproduce sound, visual or audiovisual material in relation to copies of such material performed for private purposes. However, the "private copying" can be authorised only if rightholders obtain a "fair compensation".[Read More]

By judgement of 14 September 2010 the European Court of Justice has said its final word on the age-old Lego's claim concerning the registration as a trademark of its famous toy-brick.

In April 1996, Lego filed an application for a Community trademark on the very well known toy-brick before the European trademark office, the OHIM.  Initially, OHIM held that the sign had acquired distinctive character in the European Union and did not consist exclusively of the shape of goods which is necessary to obtain a technical result. Hence, the registration was granted in October 1999. 
[Read More]