Andrea Piras of Zunarelli – Studio Legale Associato has been interviewed by Trieste’s newspaper Il Piccolo regarding a dispute started by a well-known clothing brand before the European Union Intellectual Property Office between Zara, a leading Spanish fashion retailer, against a coffee roasting family business that exports coffee blends. Reason: “name too similar”. Read the…
The trademark registration of a mark used to identify goods and services is always recommended in order to strengthen its protection. However, there are cases of protection of unregistered trademarks, within the limits of the so-called prior use. In fact, the holder of a de facto ‒i.e. unregistered‒ trademark, who can demonstrate the constant and…
It is possible to protect intellectual property online by making the provider accountable. In particular, the liability of the hosting provider seems to arise when, having become aware of potential activities in violation of intellectual rights, it does not take steps to remove them. This is the principle reaffirmed by the Court of Bologna –…
Incentives for the development and the protection of intellectual property intended for SMEs that are interested in extending their national trademarks to foreign countries are re-starting in Italy. The programme called Marchi+3 has been launched by the Italian Ministry of Economic Development, in collaboration with Unioncamere and the Directorate-General for the Fight against Counterfeiting, and…
“The so-called “weak” trademarks are such as they are conceptually linked to the product since the imagination that has conceived them has not gone beyond the detection of a feature, or an element of the product, or the utilization of commonly used words that cannot bear to be the object of an exclusive right”…
The Firm has recently represented a company in Trieste which operates in the coffee sector and which registered its trademark with the EUIPO (European Union Intellectual Property Office) at a European level. The granting was though opposed by Heineken B.V.. The latter, in fact, is in turn the owner of a trademark relating to the…