INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

Intellectual and Industrial Property

IP assets development, management, and protection  represent a constant challenge for companies  therefore we are at your side in protecting and enhancing your intellectual property.

We take care of  contractual, extrajudicial, judicial and any other aspect  concerning industrial property rights.

Our approach is practical and concrete, aimed at making your IP assets a real instrument of competitiveness in the global market.

Our assistance also aims at  providing suitable tools to enable you to  decide  on how  to best safeguard your investments in R&D.

Our team is  made up of experienced and highly qualified professionals with a deep understanding of the most innovative technological sectors. This means not only protecting your rights but also understanding the dynamics of your sector and the challenges you face daily, so that  you can focus on developing your business.

Copyright and related rights

Our professionals have a solid experience in protecting copyright on a wide range of creative works. This includes not only traditional sectors such as publishing, cinematography , music, photography, architecture and visual arts but also software and rights related to new technologies.

Contractual matters

We assist our clients in every stage  of commercial agreements drafting, negotiation, and execution  with regard to the exploitation and development of IP rights:

  • Assignment, licensing and development agreements;
  • IT, software, and technology transfer agreements;
  • Agreements in advertising, marketing and promotional sector;
  • Distribution agreements.

IP Litigation and Unfair Competition

We  advise you in litigation in order to defend your IP rights, providing support before all judicial, administrative (UIBM and EUIPO) and independent authorities. Our expertise includes patents, utility models, trademarks, designs, copyright, as well as misleading and comparative advertising. We also represent clients before the Unified Patent Court (UPC).

Our extensive experience regards also  unfair competition, misappropriation of trade secrets, and transfer of employees.

Trade secrets and know-how

We assist companies in defining guidelines concerning know-how protection and trade secrets misappropriation cases.

Advertising Law

Our firm advises  clients in defining right away the advertising campaigns so that to minimize the potential risk of third-party rights violation. We also deal with advertising agreements by  drafting and negotiating .

Our professionals support clients in proceedings before the Italian Competition Authority concerning misleading advertising and before the Giurì dell’Autodisciplina Pubblicitaria (Advertising Self-Regulation Authority). Moreover, we offer assistance in judicial proceedings related to alleged unfair advertising practices.

Trademark Portfolio Management

Tonucci & Partners provides assistance in managing complex trademark portfolios, aiming to enhance your rights and protect your ideas through the following services:

  • Priority searches and registration opinions;
  • Filing, prosecution, and registration of Italian, European, international and foreign trademarks;
  • Trademark surveillance, oppositions and cancellation actions against third-party trademarks;
  • Management of trademark portfolio deadlines;
  • Domain name reallocation procedures;
  • Customs monitoring and anti-counterfeiting measures.

Due Diligence

We provide specific assistance in  acquisition context or sale of company shares or businesses by supporting the verification process of any critical issues related to IP rights.

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Rules for safety of drones approved by European Parliament.

On 12 June 2018, the European Parliament approved new EU-wide principles for drones and drone operators to ensure an adequate level of safety and give operators and manufacturers a common legal environment across the EU that may boost development of drone based products and services and related business. The rules now need to be approved by the EU ministers.

Call centers and management software tools: privacy is not an optional.

The monitoring of a call center operators by management tool software has been found to be unlawful, not only according to the applicable data protection law and regulations but also to the labour legislation on remote monitoring of workers pursuant to art. 4 Law no. 300 dated 20th May 1970 ( “Workers’ Statute”).

Personal data on TV: the compensation is confirmed if there is no consent.

A professional can claim for compensation for damages suffered as a result of the diffusion, without a prior consent, of his name in relation to the location of his professional office during a television program, and in a context different from the professional one.
This is what the Court of Cassation ruled with the ordinance n. 3426 dated 13th February 2018.

Digital signage and facial recognition: privacy notice required.

Pedestrians who watch advertisements displayed on “totems” (advertising columns that use the digital signage technology) must be specifically informed about the presence of a webcam that captures and analyzes their reactions.
This is what the Data Protection Authority stated by the decision n. 551 dated December 21th 2017.

Online contracts: choice of jurisdiction clause valid if accessible through a link.

The jurisdiction clause in an online contract can be extended and is effective if it is an integral part of the general terms and conditions which are mentioned, in the purchase order, by means of a link necessary to access to them.
This is what has been stated by the Italian Court of Cassation with its order no. 21622 dated 19 September 2017.

UK – IP professionals ask the Government to continue the application of the European Law after Brexit.

In the UK professional services are thinking about how the post-Brexit will be or shall be. CIPA
gave its directions, along with the most important institutes of the British sector. It also participated in the drafting of a joint note with the Law Society, the IP Bar, CITMA and the IP Federation on what the government ought to seek to achieve in relation to intellectual property rights after Brexit.

Online sales of luxury goods.

In a legal dispute between a German company and its distributor, the Advocat General Mr. Whal at the EU Court of Justice stated that the sale of luxury goods can be reserved to a selective distribution without breaching the EU competition rules.