Law 99/2009, which entered into force in August 2009, has introduced amendments to the Italian industrial property code with respect to trade marks and patents.
In an attempt to further strengthen the protection of goods "made in Italy", the law has introduced a new criminal tort: the use of a trade mark belonging to an Italian firm on goods not originating from Italy, when the goods bear no precise indication of the country or place of origin, nor any other information that would help consumers know the goods origininate from abroad.
The new provision has been criticised as it applies only to Italian firms' trade marks, thus disadvantaging Italian firms who outsource the manufacture of their products to other countries compared to foreign competitors who remain free to commercialise their products in Italy with no comparable hindrance. Furthermore, its immediate entry into force without implementing rules caused difficulties to the interested parties, who were not given the time nor the means to comply with the new provision.
Since there are several initiatives aimed at modifying the amendment, we may be reporting on this issue in the near future.
As to patents, the law has introduced internal priority – that is the possibility for an Italian patent or utility model application to claim priority from a previous Italian filing. Through the internal priority, already allowed in other countries and recognised by the European Patent Convention, it will now be possible in Italy to join in a single application amendments and improvements to the invention conceived by the patentee after the first filing.
|
Micaela Modiano |
Modiano & Partners
Via Meravigli 16
Milano I-20123
Italy
Tel: +39 02 85 907 777
Fax: +39 02 863 860
