Con la sentenza n. 8433 del 30 aprile 2020, la Corte di Cassazione si è espressa a favore della tutelabilità di un progetto o di un’opera di arredamento di interni ai sensi dell’art. 2, n. 5, Legge 633/1941 sul diritto d’autore (di seguito: L.A.). Tale articolo infatti ricomprende nella protezione del diritto d’autore “i disegni e le opere dell’architettura”. Il caso e i precedenti gradi di giudizio Kiko, nota azienda operante nel settore della produzione…

Towards the end of last year, the Court of Milan issued a decision in a high-profile trade secrets case whereby it granted a one-year “grace period” for a final injunction to take effect (Court of Milan, 29 October 2019, Heraeus v. Biomet – available on darts-ip). The Court did so by explicitly acknowledging the need to take into account the proportionality principle when awarding injunctive relief. This was the first time the proportionality principle was…

According to the latest decision of the CJEU on the concept of PDO/PGI “evocation”, the use of figurative signs evoking the geographical area with which a designation of origin is associated may constitute evocation of that designation, including where such figurative signs are used by a producer established in that region, but whose products, similar or comparable to those protected by the designation of origin, are not covered by the PDO (Queso Manchego, C-614/17). In…

This article briefly sums up the most relevant case law for internet service providers (ISPs) – intended both as actual providers of internet access as well as information services and content providers – and intellectual property right (IPR) holders dealing with legal proceedings in Italian Courts regarding liability and injunctive measures for online illicit content. In recent years, the liability and burden of ISPs has been a topic of great discussion among Italian Courts. From…

La sentenza Cofemel (Cofemel – Sociedade de Vestuário SA v G-Star Raw CV, C-683/17), emessa dalla Corte di Giustizia Europea nel settembre 2019, potrà avere importanti implicazioni nel panorama italiano della disciplina autoriale, con riferimento al requisito del valore artistico e alla forma funzionale. La Corte suprema portoghese, investita di decidere sulla controversia tra le due società, sottoponeva alla Corte europea la questione se l’articolo 2, lettera a), della direttiva 2001/29 (Direttiva InfoSoc), come interpretato…

According to a recent decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), the mere storage by Amazon, in the context of its online marketplace (‘AmazonMarketplace’), of goods which infringe trade mark rights does not constitute an infringement by Amazon of those trademark rights. By judgment of 2 April 2020, the CJEU (case C-567/18) ruled on a preliminary question submitted by the German Federal Court of Justice (BGH) in the context of proceedings…

The Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement on Appellations of Origin and Geographical Indications has officially entered into force. The European Union’s November 26, 2019, accession permitted the Geneva Act’s entry into force three months later, i.e. on February 26, 2020. The Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement, adopted on May 20, 2015, extends the international registration system established for appellations of origin by the Lisbon Agreement to geographical indications and expands the geographical coverage…