Intellectual & Industrial Property Law and Domain names
Specialised legal services about trademarks, patents, copyright, know-how, advertising, domain names and reassignment procedures at the national and international levels.
Our specialised services are listed below:
Patents.
Patents and utility models (in countries where the latter are recognised and protected) protect technical and technological aspects of a product or a process which possess features of novelty, inventive step, industrial applicability and reproducibility. In this area, the assistance and advice we offer to our clients covers all fields of technological innovation, ranging from mechanics to electronics and software, from industrial and pharmaceutical chemistry to biotechnology and the GMO sector, as well as the most advanced technologies such as nanotechnology. We offer assistance for all stages of the application process and granting of patents at the national (also foreign), European and international levels.
We assist our clients in litigation (including injunctions and precautionary measures, within the meaning of the Industrial Property Code, Legislative Decree 30/2005) and provide advisory services which embrace the regulatory procedures for the registration of patents or models with the competent national and international authorities as well as drafting contracts, e.g. licences for patent use.
Trademarks.
Key components for the goodwill and the value of a company, trademarks have acquired such importance as to become a primary asset in business development. Once the necessary requirements of distinctiveness and novelty are confirmed through a specific search, trademarks are then protected by defensive actions which include, first, registration in a territory adequate to the organisation’s positioning and future prospects. Then a rigorous monitoring service is set up both of the market and in the local trademark registry offices. This strategy enables us to promptly intervene if third parties file the same trademark or a confusingly similar one by opposing the registration and taking action before the competent authorities against the use thereof. Thanks to our longstanding trademark experience, we offer innovative solutions and develop programs for filing, monitoring and intervening against infringers on a global scale, ensuring the best cost-benefit service.
Assistance in this area includes regulatory matters (e.g.: representation, defence and filing of applications within the national and international opposition procedures) and litigation (including injunctions and precautionary measures, within the meaning of the Industrial Property Code, Legislative Decree 30/2005), as well as advisory services, such as the assistance in the regulatory procedures to register a trademark before the competent national and international authorities; drafting contracts, such as licensing, merchandising, franchising, distribution, agency, etc.; and advice on the regulations on "Made in Italy".
Copyright.
The firm has an outstanding experience in copyright protection under the Italian legal framework pursuant to Copyright Law 633 of 22 April 1941 and subsequent amendments and supplements. Assistance services include all original intellectual property (including computer programs and electronic databases), the related regulatory protection procedures in Italy (e.g.: SIAE) or abroad (e.g., registration with the US copyright office), contractual negotiation of royalties, regulatory procedures and litigation. In the copyright sector, we boast outstanding experience in managing and protecting the so-called "audio-visual media services" as we have consulted for film production companies, national and foreign television and radio stations on any platform as well as for companies operating in the field of digital publishing and multimedia, in the broadest sense of the word. In the field of image rights, we also assisted celebrities of national and international fame.
Assistance in this area includes litigation (including injunctions and precautionary measures pursuant to Art. 156 of the Copyright Law and criminal complaints for the cases referenced in Articles 171 et seq., of the Copyright Law) and assistance in the regulatory procedures provided at the Italian Company of Authors and Publishers (S.I.A.E.) or the Consortium Company Phonograph (Società Consortile Fonografica) S.C.F. or the new Mutual Institute of Artists, Actors and Performers - New I.M.A.I.E.
In addition, the assistance we provide also includes negotiating and/or drafting all types of contracts for the exploitation and use of copyright.
Protection of domain names and reassignment procedure.
As regards litigation, our legal assistance includes designing and managing preventive actions against abusive registration of domain names (domain grabbing or cybersquatting). We also provide advice on unfair competition and breach of industrial property rights. We provide our consultancy services also for foreign jurisdictions.
Our assistance on domain names in the ”.it" country code includes representation and defence within alternative dispute resolution mechanisms in the procedure known as “.it domain names reassignment procedure" before the Dispute Resolution Service Providers.
Internationally, we have represented and assisted major brand owners in the mediation and arbitration procedures established by the World Intellectual Property Organisation. Individuals can turn to these procedures when they believe that their rights to domain names, in particular generic top level domains (gtld) (.com, .org, .net, .edu, .int, .biz, .info, .name, .coop, .aero, .museum, .pro, .mil, xxx, etc.), have been violated.
Our services also include regulatory procedures in foreign jurisdictions. We represent our clients within the foreign domain name recovery and reassignment procedures before the competent national registration authorities.
Legal services in this sector also include:
a) assistance in properly planning strategies to protect domain names, which represent important IP assets;
b) contractual assistance on cc.tld “it" domain names in compliance with the technical standards established by the competent Registry (transfers of domain names upon agreement of the parties, succession mortis causa to particular or universal titles, transfer of company or business, transformation, acquisition or merger);
c) registration service with the competent national and foreign registration Authorities;
d) monitoring services on domain portfolios to ensure their protection.
Know-how .
Protection of know-how mainly regards the innovative features that are preserved and, if required, exploited under confidentiality agreements. Patent protection involves the publication of the invention, while know-how relies on the opposite principle: if disclosed, these assets can no longer be protected. Disclosure (also unauthorised) and the resulting risks can be prevented and reduced through appropriate contractual and legal arrangements. Thanks to our extensive experience in this area, our comprehensive assistance first identifies the internal procedures and corporate assets and then develops contractual provisions and safeguard instruments tailored to the client’s specific needs.
Advertising and Media.
Another area closely associated to Intellectual Property is advertising. Our assistance in this area includes validation services for advertising campaigns before their launch, aimed at ensuring that they comply with the antitrust regulations and laws on misleading and comparative advertising. In this sector, our assistance also covers regulatory procedures for the protection of ideas, advertising creations and pay-offs through filing with the Self-Regulation Advertising Institute (IAP). For breaches of advertising law (Consumer Code, Legislative Decree 206/2005), we also provide assistance in proceedings before the Italian Competition Authority (Autorità Garante della Concorrenza) and before the Grand Jury of Advertising, the advertising self-regulatory body.
Patents.
Patents and utility models (in countries where the latter are recognised and protected) protect technical and technological aspects of a product or a process which possess features of novelty, inventive step, industrial applicability and reproducibility. In this area, the assistance and advice we offer to our clients covers all fields of technological innovation, ranging from mechanics to electronics and software, from industrial and pharmaceutical chemistry to biotechnology and the GMO sector, as well as the most advanced technologies such as nanotechnology. We offer assistance for all stages of the application process and granting of patents at the national (also foreign), European and international levels.
We assist our clients in litigation (including injunctions and precautionary measures, within the meaning of the Industrial Property Code, Legislative Decree 30/2005) and provide advisory services which embrace the regulatory procedures for the registration of patents or models with the competent national and international authorities as well as drafting contracts, e.g. licences for patent use.
Trademarks.
Key components for the goodwill and the value of a company, trademarks have acquired such importance as to become a primary asset in business development. Once the necessary requirements of distinctiveness and novelty are confirmed through a specific search, trademarks are then protected by defensive actions which include, first, registration in a territory adequate to the organisation’s positioning and future prospects. Then a rigorous monitoring service is set up both of the market and in the local trademark registry offices. This strategy enables us to promptly intervene if third parties file the same trademark or a confusingly similar one by opposing the registration and taking action before the competent authorities against the use thereof. Thanks to our longstanding trademark experience, we offer innovative solutions and develop programs for filing, monitoring and intervening against infringers on a global scale, ensuring the best cost-benefit service.
Assistance in this area includes regulatory matters (e.g.: representation, defence and filing of applications within the national and international opposition procedures) and litigation (including injunctions and precautionary measures, within the meaning of the Industrial Property Code, Legislative Decree 30/2005), as well as advisory services, such as the assistance in the regulatory procedures to register a trademark before the competent national and international authorities; drafting contracts, such as licensing, merchandising, franchising, distribution, agency, etc.; and advice on the regulations on "Made in Italy".
Copyright.
The firm has an outstanding experience in copyright protection under the Italian legal framework pursuant to Copyright Law 633 of 22 April 1941 and subsequent amendments and supplements. Assistance services include all original intellectual property (including computer programs and electronic databases), the related regulatory protection procedures in Italy (e.g.: SIAE) or abroad (e.g., registration with the US copyright office), contractual negotiation of royalties, regulatory procedures and litigation. In the copyright sector, we boast outstanding experience in managing and protecting the so-called "audio-visual media services" as we have consulted for film production companies, national and foreign television and radio stations on any platform as well as for companies operating in the field of digital publishing and multimedia, in the broadest sense of the word. In the field of image rights, we also assisted celebrities of national and international fame.
Assistance in this area includes litigation (including injunctions and precautionary measures pursuant to Art. 156 of the Copyright Law and criminal complaints for the cases referenced in Articles 171 et seq., of the Copyright Law) and assistance in the regulatory procedures provided at the Italian Company of Authors and Publishers (S.I.A.E.) or the Consortium Company Phonograph (Società Consortile Fonografica) S.C.F. or the new Mutual Institute of Artists, Actors and Performers - New I.M.A.I.E.
In addition, the assistance we provide also includes negotiating and/or drafting all types of contracts for the exploitation and use of copyright.
Protection of domain names and reassignment procedure.
As regards litigation, our legal assistance includes designing and managing preventive actions against abusive registration of domain names (domain grabbing or cybersquatting). We also provide advice on unfair competition and breach of industrial property rights. We provide our consultancy services also for foreign jurisdictions.
Our assistance on domain names in the ”.it" country code includes representation and defence within alternative dispute resolution mechanisms in the procedure known as “.it domain names reassignment procedure" before the Dispute Resolution Service Providers.
Internationally, we have represented and assisted major brand owners in the mediation and arbitration procedures established by the World Intellectual Property Organisation. Individuals can turn to these procedures when they believe that their rights to domain names, in particular generic top level domains (gtld) (.com, .org, .net, .edu, .int, .biz, .info, .name, .coop, .aero, .museum, .pro, .mil, xxx, etc.), have been violated.
Our services also include regulatory procedures in foreign jurisdictions. We represent our clients within the foreign domain name recovery and reassignment procedures before the competent national registration authorities.
Legal services in this sector also include:
a) assistance in properly planning strategies to protect domain names, which represent important IP assets;
b) contractual assistance on cc.tld “it" domain names in compliance with the technical standards established by the competent Registry (transfers of domain names upon agreement of the parties, succession mortis causa to particular or universal titles, transfer of company or business, transformation, acquisition or merger);
c) registration service with the competent national and foreign registration Authorities;
d) monitoring services on domain portfolios to ensure their protection.
Know-how .
Protection of know-how mainly regards the innovative features that are preserved and, if required, exploited under confidentiality agreements. Patent protection involves the publication of the invention, while know-how relies on the opposite principle: if disclosed, these assets can no longer be protected. Disclosure (also unauthorised) and the resulting risks can be prevented and reduced through appropriate contractual and legal arrangements. Thanks to our extensive experience in this area, our comprehensive assistance first identifies the internal procedures and corporate assets and then develops contractual provisions and safeguard instruments tailored to the client’s specific needs.
Advertising and Media.
Another area closely associated to Intellectual Property is advertising. Our assistance in this area includes validation services for advertising campaigns before their launch, aimed at ensuring that they comply with the antitrust regulations and laws on misleading and comparative advertising. In this sector, our assistance also covers regulatory procedures for the protection of ideas, advertising creations and pay-offs through filing with the Self-Regulation Advertising Institute (IAP). For breaches of advertising law (Consumer Code, Legislative Decree 206/2005), we also provide assistance in proceedings before the Italian Competition Authority (Autorità Garante della Concorrenza) and before the Grand Jury of Advertising, the advertising self-regulatory body.
