On 5 October, the IP Court of Milan (Judge Mrs Tavassi) issued an interim decision in a dispute between two companies managing paid car parks, respectively the licensor and licensee of the ParkToFly trademark and of the booking software hosted on the domain name www.parktofly.it.

Following a preliminary proceeding commenced by Barilla against an Italian textile company to stop the production and commercialisation of pillows reproducing the name and the shape of some of Barilla’s most famous cookies, the Milan IP Court upheld both the word trademark infringement and the parasitic competition claim, granting an injunction in the terms described below.

A recent ruling on patent infringement (no. 10512/15 of 18 September 2015, President and writer Mrs M. A. Tavassi) was an opportunity for the IP Court of Milan to lay down some principles on the request of limitation of the enforced patent, and on the participation of the parties in the expert witness’ operations.

On 10 September, the IP Court of Milan issued an interesting ruling (no. 10164/15) on the infringement of a utility model under the doctrine of equivalents.

Judgment no. 8817/2015 of 17 July 2015 of the Business Matters Section of the Milan Tribunal is one of a long list of rulings by this Court on the imitation of the packaging of competitors’ products

In judgments on September 10 (in cases T-525/13 and T-526/13), the General Court (GC) of the European Union declared valid two Community designs representing handbags owned by the maison Yves Saint Laurent S.a.S., rejecting the actions proposed by the fast-fashion giant H&M, which claimed nullity of the designs due to lack of individual character.

The Civil Court of Milan recently issued an interesting ruling in a dispute involving personality rights (ruling no. 8423/2015, published on 08 July 2015).

In decision no. 7640/13, published on the 5th of August, the IP Court of Milan ruled that the Community word trademark “IWEB”, owned by Apple Inc., does not infringe the earlier Italian trademarks owned by Galgano Informatica S.r.l., dismissing at the same time the counterclaim of invalidity proposed by Apple.

On 27 July the IP Court of Bologna issued a judgment (no. 2340/15) which summarises the current Italian law and case-law on the protection of trade secrets.

In the decision of 7th July in case R 1673/2014-4, the Fourth Board of Appeal of the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM) granted the appeal proposed by Net-a-Porter Group Ltd., a leading company in high-fashion online retailing, against the Spanish Duka Márquez S.L., which sought to register the word sign “Chêf-à-porter” as a Community trademark (CTM).

The Italian Court of Cassation recently set forth principles to be followed in the matter of proof of pecuniary and non-pecuniary damages resulting from copyright infringement. In particular, it ruled on a decision of Genoa’s Court of Appeal concerning the infringement of copyright on the exhibition of paintings and sculptures «Italian journey.

By judgment of 15 July no. 8745/15, the Court of Milan – Business Chamber “A” – clarified certain issues relating to the proof of ownership of the plant variety rights provided by Articles 100 onwards of the Italian IP Code and by Regulation no. 2100/94/EC (and granted at a national level by the Italian Patent and Trademark Office, and at the Community level by the Community Plant Variety Office).

At the end of a legal battle echoing an earlier lawsuit brought by the same plaintiff, Gianni Rivera, the famous Italian ex-footballer, has been granted damages by a Milan Court for the violation of his personality rights in connection with YouTube adverts.

A recent ruling in a patent infringement case (no. 8356/15) gave the Court of Milan the opportunity to reiterate its position on the application of the so called “problem-and-solution approach” and on the criteria for the assessment of damages. Both issues have already been discussed on this blog, here and here respectively.

In a rejection of two actions brought by an English toy company against LEGO Juris A/S, the General Court of the European Union (GC) recently ruled in matter of three-dimensional trademarks, acknowledging the (contested) validity of two three-dimensional trademarks representing the shape of the famous Danish yellow figures (cases T-396/14 and T-398/14).

On 24 June the IP Court of Milan ordered, by way of urgency, the seizure of counterfeit footwear sold by an Italian company under the trademark “Converse All Star”.

The Italian branch of the renowned Swiss multinational Nestlé has successfully defended its “Galak” branded line of white chocolate products before the IP Court of Milan, with particular focus on its Easter eggs.

By judgment of 16 June 2015, (docket no. 53242/12), the IP Court of Milan condemned a number of companies of the Mondo Convenienza group to pay the damages caused to Flou S.p.A. through sale of unauthorised copies of the “Nathalie” bed designed by Vico Magistretti. The extensive and detailed judgment is of particular interest both because it addresses several issues that are typical of proceedings on the copyright infringement of design works, and for the significant damages awarded to the plaintiff.

On 14 May, Business Chamber “A” of the Milan court issued a decision in interim injunction proceedings on the infringement of the registered trademark “legami”, known in particular for stationery products, by the trademark “BeA legami preziosi”, registered at a later date and used for jewellery.

The Business Chamber “A” of the Milan Court recently declared the partial revocation for non-use of the Italian trademark “Zefiro”, owned by Gruppo Coin S.p.A., granting the relevant claim proposed by Louis Vuitton Malletier (recent addressee of another judgment by the General Court of Europe in the matter of trademarks, which we have discussed here).