The ICA fined the GoFundMe Ireland Ltd for unfair commercial practices against consumers, concerning the management of some online fundraising campaigns.

The CJEU ruled on the interpretation of Art. 13(1) of the EU Regulation no. 1151/2012 on quality schemes for agricultural products and foodstuffs, regarding the infringement of a PDO

HP was fined for misleading and aggressive commercial practices against consumers, in relation to the sale of some printer models in Italy

The ICA closed the investigation against the Spanish company Parclick S.L. for the infringement of the Italian Consumer Code and accepted the commitments proposed by the latter

By its decision no. 28368 of 30 September 2020 the Italian Competition Authority (ICA) accepted the commitments made by Electronic Arts Inc, Electronic Arts Swiss Sarl and Electronic Italia Srl (EA group) and closed without ascertaining any infringement the proceedings regarding the promotion in the Italian market of several videogames that offer the possibility to make in-game purchases including through loot boxes.  

With decision of last October 27 (the Italian version is available here), the Italian Competition Authority (AGCM) issued an administrative fine of 10 million euros (the maximum amount possible) against Apple for breach of the Italian Consumer Code, and more specifically for misleading and aggressive commercial practices.

With decision no. 14758 of 12 September 2019, the IP Court of Rome dismissed the lawsuit brought by a photographer against RAI-RADIOTELEVISIONE ITALIANA SPA (RAI) for compensationary damages deriving from the use of a photo, portraying the Italian judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino.

With a recent decision (C-673/17) dated October 1 2019, the European Court of Justice ruled on a reference for a preliminary ruling proposed by the Bundesgerichtshof (the German Supreme Court), concerning the validity of the consent to use cookies, given by means of pre-ticked checkboxes.

A recent summary ruling of the Brescia, Italy, IP Court, offers some insight in the matter of proof of acquired distinctiveness in trademark cases before the Italian IP Courts.

The EU Court of Justice (ECJ), with a decision dated 12 September 2019 in case C-688/17, ruled on the interpretation of Article 9(7) of Directive 2004/48/EC.

With decisions published on 2 November 2020, the Italian Competition Authority (ICA) closed, without issuing any sanctions in acceptance of the commitments of the parties, the procedures with which it had contested the inclusion of subliminal advertising in the video clips of the Italian songs “Senza Pensieri” by Rovazzi and “Mambo salentino” by Boomdabash & Alessandra Amoroso (proceedings no. PS11603 – decision no. 28385; PS11604 – decision no. 28386; PS11605 – decision no. 28387).

With judgement no. 153 of last July 24, the Italian Data Protection Authority (DPA) ruled on the matter of the right to be forgotten and upheld a claim against Google LLC, brought by a citizen involved in a criminal proceeding.

With a recent judgement in Case C-485/18, the CJEU ruled on the mandatory indication of the country of origin or place of provenance of foods, in respect of the possibility for a Member State to require additional mandatory information as compared with those provided for in Regulation No 1169/2011.

With decision no. 28358 of 2020, the Italian Antitrust Authority closed the proceedings against Vodafone Italia S.p.A. relating to its “Happy&Win” prize contest held in 2019.

In a judgement handed down on 1 October 2020 (case C-649-18) the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled on the prohibition for a Member State to restrict the free movement of information society services from another Member State, in respect of the online sales of medicinal products not subject to medical prescription. 

With order no. 17161 of 2019, the Court of Cassation issued an unprecedented decision regarding the jurisdiction of the IP Courts in cases of so-called related unfair competition.

On 17 September 2020, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) dismissed the appeals brought by the EUIPO and the holder of the MASSI trademark against the General Court decision confirming the validity of MESSI’s trademark registration (shown below) for sports equipment and clothing (see judgement in C-449/18 and C-474/18, available here in french and spanish).

A very recent decision of the EUIPO Cancellation Division (no. 33 843 C) ascertained the invalidity of trademark no. 12575155,  registered by the company Pest Control Office Ltd. (the company acting on behalf of the well-known street artist Banksy), because it had been filed in bad faith pursuant to article 59(1)(b) of the EU trademark Regulation no. 1001/2017.

With the decision no. 10298/2020, the Italian Supreme Court reaffirmed that the use of the surname “Fiorucci” as a trademark by Mr. Elio Fiorucci is unlawful, recalling the principle already stated in the decision no. 10826/2016 issued in the parallel proceeding between Mr. Fiorucci and Edwin Company Ltd (that was basically identical to this one in fact and in law: see our comment here on this blog).

With a press release of 7 September 2020 the Italian Competition Authority (AGCM) has announced the commencement of six investigations against three of the leading cloud computing service providers  worldwide.