Region: Italy

The Court of Cassation (Italy's highest court) recently issued a decision concerning whether a scientific director who contributed to an invention but whose employment contract did not specifically address remuneration for such activities was entitled to the payment of a fair premium.

07 December 2016

The Supreme Court recently held that the trademark OSCAR was valid with respect to the film industry and thus gave its owner, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, exclusive rights in its use. However, the court also held that the trademark had become a common name in relation to other services – namely, teaching and performances in Class 41 of the Nice Classification.

09 November 2016

A recent Court of Cassation decision has affirmed the principle that when separate infringement and invalidity proceedings are pending simultaneously, the court managing the infringement action should stay those proceedings until conclusion of the validity action.

12 October 2016

Featured in IAM Yearbook 2017

Many products commercialised in the European Union today are manufactured not in EU member states, but rather in countries outside the internal market, either in Europe or further afield (eg, Asia and the Americas). Although the import and export of…

12 October 2016

In the recently published decision of <i>Geratherm Medical AG v Gima SPA</i> the Court of Milan ruled that patent protection for a numerical range of values cannot be extended under the doctrine of equivalents to cover a numerical value that falls even slightly outside that range.

10 August 2016

A Court of Milan decision ordered the partial nullity of a trademark, permitting the continued registration of the remainder of the mark. Although trademark litigation may not always be pretty, it might just save at least part of your trademark.

13 July 2016

A recent Court of Cassation decision has affirmed the principle that a variant of a patented invention that is not original over the patent (ie, does not exceed the technical skills of the skilled person) falls within the scope of the patent.

08 June 2016

A recent decision from the Court of Milan has confirmed the case law trend that the reformulation of a technical problem solved by a patented invention is inappropriate during legal proceedings.

04 May 2016

The Court of Milan has confirmed its partial previous decision declaring the nullity of the Italian collective mark consisting of a symbol portraying stylised animal skin. The mark was well known in Italy as '<i>vacchetta</i>' ('cowhide') and was registered in Classes 16, 18, 21, 25 and 28, claiming goods made of leather in each class.

13 April 2016

The Italian Board of Appeal recently held that the conclusions of foreign national patent offices are relevant evidence when evaluating whether a patent owner seeking the reinstatement of rights has demonstrated that its representative had adequate means to carry out the task entrusted to it.

09 March 2016