”Few ideas and confused”. This was a frequent comment from high school professors reviewing our test results which seems strangely apt to describe this latest attempt by the Italian Government to protect Italian companies and the so called “made in Italy”, using trade mark rights. The Ministerial Decree of 10 January 2020 set the final…
On 14th October 2019 the Italian authorities seized approximately 250 tubes of Prosecco and Pink Peppercorn flavoured Pringles crisps from supermarket chain Tosano in the Veneto region of Northeastern Italy. The ‘administrative seizure’ was ordered on the basis that the name Prosecco – which is protected as Designation of Origin (PDO) under EU Regulation 1308/2013 –…
The so called “growth decree” (decree-law no. 34/2019, amended by the Italian Parliament as law 58/2019 in June 2019) has introduced a new category of marks in Italy: “historic marks” defined as those marks registered or used continuously for a period of at least 50 years to market products or services “made by an Italian manufacturing company of excellence, which…
In a recent case decided by the Court of Venice (decision n. 2355/2018), MHCS, the producer, inter alia, of the famous Veuve Clicquot champagne, prevailed against a prosecco producer who used orange labels on its prosecco, based on its abstract colour mark “jaune orange” registered as an EUTM. However, absent proof of acquired distinctiveness for…
With decision n. 482 of 2019 the Italian Court of Torino decided on whether the beauty and the history of a car may be reasons to deserve copyright protection. The case regards the company Tecnomodel S.r.l. producer of miniature cars, including the models in scale 1/18 and 1/43 of the cars Alfa Romeo Giulietta SZ and…
Not for the first time this year, have we seen the granting of copyright protection on a project of interior furnishing. Following the Court of Milan’s ruling which recognised copyright protection of Kiko’s concept stores, the Court of Venice was also called to pronounce – in the context of an interim proceedings – on the…
It is quite uncommon to have an administrative law Court ruling on IP matters, but sometimes it happens. The Tribunale Amministrativo Regionale del Lazio (Lazio Regional Administrative Court, hereinafter TAR) was recently (decision of T.A.R. of Lazio No. 9050 of 29 August 2018) called to rule on pharmaceuticals parallel imports, more specifically whether or not…
Earlier this year, the Court of Appeal of Milan upheld a 2015 ruling by the Court of Milan which recognized copyright protection of the concept store of Kiko, the Italian make-up brand, and blocked competitor Wycon from using similar store decor in its shops. (Court of Appeal decision no. 1543/18, Kiko-Wycon, March 26, 2018). Kiko’s…
The Court of Florence last October 25, 2017 issued a decision prohibiting a travel agency to commercially use the image of Michelangelo’s David without the authorization of the “Galleria dell’Accademia”, (Galleria) the museum where the sculpture is located. The decision came after the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism (the “Ministry”) under…
Can a scooter enjoy, contemporaneously, protection as a three-dimensional trademark (hereinafter 3D mark) and under copyright law? Apparently it can, at least according to the Court of Turin, which recently said so, with its decision no. 1900/2017 dating March 17, 2017. The case was started when Piaggio, maker of the scooter Vespa, asserted rights arising…
