Since 27 March last, any type of patent presented and approved in the EU countries will be protected by a unitary patent protection. In Italy, the measure was published in the Official Gazette last March 12.
Following the legislative Decree No. 18 of last February 19, laying down-it reads- The measure ‘ implementation of the delegation referred to in article 4 of Law No 163 of 25 October 2017 for the adaptation, coordination and connection of national legislation to the provisions of regulation (EU) No 1257/2012 of the European Parliament and of Council of 17 December 2012 on the implementation of enhanced cooperation in the field of the establishment of a unitary patent protection, and the provisions of the Agreement on a unified Patent Court, ratified and made enforceable under Of the law of 3 November 2016, no 214 ‘.
In layman’s terms, in addition to providing for precise rules on the European Patent, the decree establishes a common jurisdiction for all Eu countries Participating, conferring on them the necessary competences in the field of counterfeiting, infringement, detection of invalidity, revocation or non-infringement of European patents, as well as related interim and precautionary measures, counterclaims, Damages actions also in connection with the supplementary protection certificates issued on the basis of a European patent.
To all this, provisions have been added to ensure the application of Italian legislation to the causes concerning the European patent issued for Italy which are pending until the date of entry into force of the agreement, in addition to those Subsequently promoted before the Italian judicial authority as a result of the transitional regime. The single European Patent and the European patent issued for Italy will only be effective after the publication of their mention in the European Patent Bulletin, while there will be a transitional regime for pending cases relating to patents Europeans released for Italy.
For patent law in the strict sense, however, there are certain limitations to exclusivity, which will no longer act for experimental acts concerning the placing of drugs on the market, for the experimental use of discoveries and patents related to Variety Plants and for the use of patented inventions on ships, planes and ground vehicles that make temporary or accidental entry into Italy.
The decree rewrites almost entirely paragraph 1 of article 56 of the Code of Industrial property, and the European patent issued for Italy and the Unitarian European one, will guarantee the respective owners the rights provided for in articles 25 and 26 Of the agreement, which summarize the provisions to prevent the direct and indirect use of inventions. In addition, paragraph 2 of article 56 of the Industrial Property Code will be deleted, while counterfeits are assessed as prescribed by the Italian legislation on this subject.
Another novelty concerns the exclusive patent, which will no longer take place for the experimental acts carried out privately and for non-commercial purposes, aimed at obtaining, even abroad, authorisations for the marketing of medicinal products, while no exclusivity is foreseen for the experimental Acts relating The subject of patents and the use of biological materials for cultivation, discovery and development of other plant varieties.
