The Italian Government approved a draft Bill on 21 November 2018 aimed at adapting the Italian IP Code to the Unitary Patent Regulation (EU 1257/2012) and the Unified Patent Court (UPC) Agreement. The next step before the Bill is passed will be for the Italian Parliament to give its favourable opinion.
The draft Bill will essentially amend the Industrial Property Code in Italy to incorporate unitary patent protection and the jurisdiction of the UPC.
What's new?
- Safety net
Under the current system a European patent acquires effect in Italy once an Italian translation of the patent has been filed with the Italian Patent Office within three months of the publication of the patent grant. Once the UPC is in place, holders of European patents will be entitled to apply for their European patents to have unitary effect in all 26 Member States that have participated in the enhanced cooperation to create the unitary patent, within one month of the patent grant being published on the European Patent Bulletin.
There is a degree of uncertainty as to whether the process for applying for unitary effect will take longer than the 3 months, in which case the patentee will have lost out on the chance to validate their patent in Italy.
The draft Bill has therefore introduced a safety net mechanism whereby if an application for unitary effect is rejected or withdrawn, the 3 month term for the validation in Italy will take effect from the date when they receive the rejection or of the withdrawal. This will allow patentees to validate a patent in Italy even if their unitary application is not granted.
- Experimental use exception
Another important amendment concerns the experimental use exemption. Under the draft Bill, the rights conferred by a patent shall not extend to acts carried out for experimental purposes relating to the subject matter of the patented invention or to the use of biological material for the purpose of breeding, or discovering and developing other plant varieties.
The previous wording of the Italian Industrial Property Code did not include a specification regarding the type of experimental use. In essence, this limitation of the experimental purposes to "the subject matter of the patented invention" could lead to a more restrictive interpretation of the scope of permitted "experimental use" (e.g. limited to experiment "on the patented invention" and not "with the patented invention" in line with Italian case law).
- Infringement exemption for vessels/aircraft/vehicles
The draft Bill would introduce an exemption for the use of patented inventions on board vessels or in the construction or operation of aircraft or land vehicles or other means of transport of countries of the International Union for the Protection of Industrial Property (Paris Union) or members of the World Trade Organisation, when such vessels or vehicles temporarily or accidentally enter the Italian territory.
- Transition period
The draft Bill guarantees the application of Italian law to proceedings concerning European patents until the UPC Agreement comes into force and for the duration of its transition period.
The final touches
The remainder of the draft Bill is aimed at removing any inconsistencies with existing provisions governing patents in force in Italy and their application to unitary patents where necessary. If significant changes are not required to it, the draft Bill could be approved in the near future.
The draft Bill rounds off Italy’s preparations for the unitary patent and UPC system, which had been put into motion with the amendment of the Italian Industrial Property Code to incorporate provisions on indirect infringement as required by the UPC Agreement.
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