* SIR – While it is generally true that Italy’s judicial system is slow (bar the courts of Milan and Turin) and needs reforming, the same cannot be said for intellectual property, or IP (“Justice denied?”, July 19th). The sentence attributed to an anonymous diplomat, according to whom companies do not export products to Italy in order to avoid counterfeiting, runs against well-documented facts.
In 2003 specialised IP divisions were set up to decide civil actions relating to trademarks, patents, copyright and unfair competition. Urgent issues are now typically examined and granted quickly—normally in a few days where trademarks and designs are concerned, often granted ex parte, and within a few months for patents.
Following the implementation of the European Union’s IP Rights Enforcement Directive, the holder of the IP rights may receive a sum which corresponds to either the infringer’s profits or the IP holder’s lost profits, whichever is the greater. Italy is among the European countries that recognise the highest damages taking account of the infringer’s profits. For example, a decision rendered by the Court of Brescia in 2013 awarded €2m in damages for trade-secret violation.
According to the World Intellectual Property Organisation and to UIBM (Ufficio Italiano Brevetti e Marchi) in 2012 the filings of patent applications in Italy totalled 9,310, the validations of EU granted patents 26,305. In 2012 the number of valid patents in Italy was 68,000, ranking Italy 15th in the world. According to the European Patent Office in 2013 Italy filed 4,662 European patent applications, ranking it fifth in the EU. EPO also granted 2,352 patents to Italian patentees, ranking Italy third in the EU after Germany and France and fourth among the EPO contracting states, behind Switzerland.
If infringement were so widely spread in Italy, Italian and foreign companies would not afford the trust in the system that they evidently do. Italy under the government of Silvio Berlusconi initiated and lost a legal suite together with Spain against the introduction of the Unitary Patent. But the government of Mario Monti adhered to the Unitary Patent Court and hopefully Matteo Renzi will support the full adhesion of Italy to the Unitary Patent, despite the resistance of some interest groups seeking to maintain their actual privileges.
Daniela Mainini
Law attorney and president of the anti-counterfeiting department of centro studi grande Milano
Marina Tavassi
President of the IP and company division
Court of Milan
Cesare Galli
Law attorney and professor of IP law
University of Parma
Antonio Salerno
Patent attorney and associate professor
University Politecnico di Milano
Source: www.economist.com