On 8 July, the Business Chamber of the Court of Milan issued a judgement (No. 9020/14) in a particular case of unlawful comparative advertisement. Specifically, the particularity of the case was that the applicant did not challenge an “ordinary” advertising message, but a television report transmitted within a television programme.

Martini Manna Avvocati launches its “Legal Packages”: fixed-price legal assistance packages, directed at companies and focused on handling all the requirements relating to their incorporation, setting up their website and their privacy policies.

The Court of Milan (Specialized IP Division) recently upheld a motion for a preliminary urgent injunction requested by Banco di Desio e della Brianza against Federcontribuenti who was responsible, according to Banco, for publishing an article online that was gravely offensive to not only the image and reputation of the company, but also its trademark, which was reproduced in the article itself.

Application by Italian Communication Authority AGCOM (Autorità per le Garanzie nelle Comunicazioni) of the principle enunciated by the CJEU in the Svensson case has recently resulted in the dismissal of proceedings against an allegedly copyright-infringing website (decision No. 67/14/CSP).

The Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) has recently given its judgment on unregistered Community designs in the well know Karen Millen Fashions Ltd v Dunnes Stores case (C-345/13). As most readers of this blog are probably aware, the case dealt with the “individual character” required, under Council Regulation no. 6/2002, in order for Community designs to enjoy protection.

A permanent legal conflict is ongoing in the European Union between manufacturers and parallel importers of medical devices, in which single battles are won or lost at the crossroad between trademark protection and freedom of trade in the internal market.

Provisions that entered into force on 22 February 2014 have established exclusive jurisdiction for 11 Specialized IP Divisions in disputes involving companies whose registered office is abroad.

Martini Manna has been accredited with the S.I.A.C., the online Anti-Counterfeiting Information System of the Guardia di Finanza (the Italian Tax & Customs police force).

The Italian Data Protection Authority (Garante della privacy) has issued new rules for processing the data of individuals who use so-called mobile remote payment services via smartphone, tablet or PC. The regulation (General order on the processing of personal data in the context of mobile remote payment services) was issued after a public consultation and was published in the Official Journal of the Italian Republic on 16 June 2014.

By judgment of 12 June 2014 in Case T-286/2009, the General Court of the European Union (“EGC”) dismissed Intel’s appeal against the decision of 13 May 2009, by which the European Commission (“EC”) had imposed a fine of EUR 1.06 billion on Intel for anticompetitive practices. Specifically, the penalty was linked to Intel’s conduct between 2002 and 2007, considered capable of infringing Article 82 of the EC treaty and Article 54 of the Agreement on the European Economic Area, allegedly at the expense of its rival, AMD.

A recent ruling of the Milan IP Court in a patent litigation (which we already examined from a different perspective here) contains some interesting statements on the scope of infringement claims, the reach of court injunctions and the extent of damages. We examine them briefly below, keeping in mind that the patent owner in the case in hand had requested that damages be set on the basis of the infringer’s profits:

The Italian Communication Authority, AGCOM (Autorità per le Garanzie nelle Comunicazioni) has ordered “mere conduit” service providers that operate in Italian territory to disable access to the website torrentvia.com (decision No. 51/14/CSP).

On 19 June the Business Chamber of the Court of Milan issued a ruling on patents focusing on the suspension of validity and infringement proceedings pending appeal against the grant of a patent.

A recent ruling of the IP Court of Milan (Judgment no. 7708/2014, published on 11/06/2014) provides a few insights on the issue of patent limitations in the course of proceedings before Italian courts under Article 79 paragraph 3 of the Italian IP Code (as amended in 2010 to mirror provisions in Article 138 of the EPC). Article 79 paragraph 3 gives patent holders the right to submit to the Court, in the course of validity proceedings, amendments to disputed patent claims “within the limits of the patent application as originally filed and not extending the scope of protection conferred by the patent as granted”.

On 5 June 2014, the European Court of Justice, Fourth Chamber, issued a preliminary ruling concerning the interpretation of Article 5 of Directive 2001/29/EC on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society.

An invention made by an independent contractor, if that contractor was hired to invent, belongs to the client. This principle, which is already well established in Italian case-law, has been confirmed by the IP Court of Milan in recent judgment no. 6964/2014.

A technical text can be protected from unauthorised use under copyright laws. In fact, the lower degree of freedom enjoined by the author may make it easier to obtain copyright protection.

The Italian Data Protection Authority (“Garante della privacy”) has recently issued a decision on practical ways to provide mandatory information and acquire consent for the use of cookies on websites.

Over the last few years various legal cases, both at international and national (Italian) level, dealt with the liability of Internet Service Providers (“ISP”) for the illegal conduct of the service users.

Martini Manna and its partners have been listed in the 2014 edition of the IAM Patent 1000 – The World’s Leading Patent Practitioners guide as top patent practitioners in the Italian jurisdiction.