In recent years a large number of patent infringement proceedings have started between originator pharmaceutical companies manufacturing patented drugs, and companies commercialising the corresponding generic medicinal products.

Following a lawsuit between two companies specializing in the publication of judicial foreclosures, the IP Court of Rome, on appeal, upheld a first instance preliminary injunction based on the sui generis right granted by copyright laws to the maker of a database in order to protect its investments (IP Court of Rome, docket no. 65124/2013, order of 24 December 2013).

With resolution no. 680/13/CONS of 12 December 2013, the Italian Communications Authority (ICA) unanimously adopted the final text of its Regulation concerning copyright protection on electronic communication networks” (hereafter the Regulation), aimed at opposing the spread of copyright infringement both on the web and within audiovisual media services under Legislative Decree no. 177/2005.

The Brescia IP court recently issued two interim decisions on descriptive fair use of a trademark by the reseller of genuine goods.

Much has been written on Italy’s IP courts jurisdiction over IP rights infringements involving so-called “Information Society” technologies. However, a recent order of the Milan IP Court (docket no. 29942/2013), that has gone apparently unnoticed by legal commentators, tackles the subject with regard to some of the most current issues, namely apps for mobile devices and social networks; also notably, the social network provider implicated, for once, was not the intermediary, but the alleged direct infringer.

In the Italian legal system, an industrial product can enjoy cumulative protection under design, copyright, unfair competition, trademark, and even patent laws.

By decision no. 14508/13 of last 10 June, the Italian Supreme Court upheld jurisdiction of the Italian courts in the so called “Italian torpedoes”, i.e. cross-border proceedings for the declaration of non-infringement (“DNI”) of non-Italian portions of European patents.

With decision of last 3 October in case C-170/12, the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) ruled on jurisdiction in a copyright infringement case.

On August 25, the new Regulation (EU) no. 611/2013 on the measures applicable to the notification of personal data breaches imposed on Internet providers and telephone companies under article 4 of the e-Privacy directive 2002/58/Ce, as amended by directive 2009/136/Ce (respectively the “Regulation” and the “Directive”), came into force. Pursuant to said article 4, in particular, providers of publicly available electronic communications services (“Providers”) are obliged to notify the competent national protection data authorities (“DPAs”), and in certain cases also the subscribers and other individuals concerned, of possible personal data breaches.

With ruling no. 10374/13, the Court of Milan issued its decision on the protection of a complex trademark consisting of the image of a lock with a particular decorative door latch, accompanied by the patronymic “Gianfranco Lotti” (the “Trademark”).

With ruling of last 11 July in Case C-657/11, the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) affirmed that the use of a domain-name and meta-tags corresponding to a competitor’s trade name and trademark can constitute advertising pursuant to Article 2(a) of directive 2006/114/CE concerning misleading and comparative advertising, which defines advertising as “a representation in any form made in connection with a trade, business, craft or profession in order to promote the supply of goods or services” (the “Definition of “Advertising””).

A relatively recent decision issued by the Milan IP Court (July 27, 2013, Judge Giani) offers interesting insights on the subject of interim, “pre-emptive” actions for a declaration of non-infringement, brought by potential infringers.

With ruling of last 18 June in Case C-252/12, the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) ruled again on genuine use of the trademark in a form different from that under which the trademark was registered, right after the recent decision on the same subject matter (in relation to the Levi’s label) that we talked about here on this blog.

The European Commission (“EC”) has recently published its report for the year 2012 on EU customs’ enforcement of intellectual property rights (“IPR”) in the European Union (“EU”).

On 4 July the General Court of the European Union (“GC”) ruled in case T-301/12 as regards the grant of the Marketing Authorisation (“MA”) of Orphacol, a cholic acid-based orphan medicinal product which is used to treat two rare but very serious liver disorders (the “Medicinal Product”).

On 29 June, Regulation (EU) no. 608/2013 concerning customs enforcement of intellectual property rights and repealing previous Regulation EC no. 1383/2003 (the “Regulation”) was published on the Official Journal of the European Union.

On 27 June the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) ruled in case C-320/12 with regards to bad faith of the applicant for a trademark registration in a Member State, in case he knows or may know of the existence of a prior foreign mark which is likely to be confused with the mark applied for.

Within a few months, the Italian Data Protection Authority (Garante per la protezione dei dati personali) has issued two important decisions directed to companies engaging in direct marketing activities: a general decision on consent to the processing of personal data for the purpose of marketing, and, more importantly, the new Guidelines in the matter of marketing activities and fight against spam, both published on the Official Journal of July 26, 2013.

By decision no 452/13/CONS of 25 July 2013, the Italian Communication Authority (“AGCOM”) launched a public consultation on its “Draft regulation on copyright on the electronic communication networks“, available here on AGCOM’s website (the “Draft Regulation”).

CMM, together with several other EU law firms, took part in a European Cookie Law Implementation Survey promoted by Bristows. You can click on the above link to view the consolidated 2013 report.