IP REGULATION

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Through the protection granted by the registered trademark, the manufacturer, the distributor or the retailer can distinguish their products or services from those of all other traders, consequently increasing commercial re- putation, trustworthiness by the consumers and economic value of the firm.

In fact, the protection arising from the registration procedure prevents all third parties in the relevant territory from using in the course of the trade the same sign or a similar sign for equal or similar goods or services if, in case of mere similarity, there exists a likelihood of confusion by the consumers, including the likelihood of association.
Italian application can be submitted with reference to a limited geographic area and a specific class of goods or services. With the exception of some restrictions pursuant to article 7 of IPC, fall under the trademark regu- lation all signs that are susceptible of being graphically represented, with particular regard to words, including names of persons, drawings, letters, numbers, sounds, the shape of the product or the packaging design thereof, chromatic combinations or tonalities, provided they are suitable to be used in order to distinguish goods or ser- vices of a company from goods or services of other companies. In order to register a trademark, the following requirements shall be met: (i) novelty – article 12 of IPC, (ii) distinctive character – article 13 of IPC, (iii) law- fulness – article 14 of IPC.
Peculiar categories of trademarks are:
• Shape trademark: is a three-dimensional trademark corresponding to the product shape, provided that such shape meets the requirements of distinctiveness and unobjectionable content (unless, ac- cording to article 9 of IPC, the shape is the one resulting from the nature of the goods considered or if the shape is that necessary to obtain a technical result or if it gives substantial value to the goods to which refers);
• Collective trademark: according to article 11 of IPC, persons whose function is to guarantee the origin, the nature or the quality of certain products or services may obtain the registration of collective tra- demarks and have the right of allowing the use of such trademarks to producers or traders.
Trademark registration applications can be submitted to the Italian Office of Patents and Trademarks. Ufficio Italiano Brevetti e Marchi www.uibm.gov.it
EU application grants the claimant the possibility to gain the protection arising from the EU trade mark, which, beside all other features required by the European regulation, shall have a unitary character and, consequently, equal effect throughout the Union, unless otherwise provided. It is important to underline that the regulation has recently been amended with Reg. (EU) 2015/2424 taking force as from October 1st, 2017.
EU trademark registration application can be submitted to the competent EUIPO (European Union Intellectual Property Office) www.euipo.europa.eu