PATENT FOR INVENTION
In Italy three kinds of protection can be obtained:
- Italian Patents for industrial Invention;
- European Patents validated in Italy (Validation to be filed within the term of 3 months from the date on which the mention of grant is published in the European Patent Bulletin);
- Italian Patents for Utility Model.
Italy cannot be entered as a National Phase of a PCT application, but it can only be designated through the European Patent application, to be valided in Italy upon grant [see above under “b”].
Duration is 20 years from filing date.
Applications filed as from 1 July 2008 – if no priority is claimed – undergo a novelty search, which is carried out by the European Patent Office on behalf of the Italian Patent and Trademark Office (UIBM). Such search report, together with the search opinion, is made available by UIBM to the applicant.
Priority must be claimed on filing, provided that the application in Italy is filed within the Paris Convention term. A certified copy of the basic application must be filed, together with an Italian translation thereof.
Biotechnological inventions may be patented. Computer programs, per sé, are unpatentable, but computer-related inventions may be patentable, provided that they lead to a technical result, even if the program forms most part of the invention.
REQUIREMENTS FOR FILING ITALIAN PATENT APPLICATIONS and EP VALIDATIONS IN ITALY
- Italian Patents
- Power of Attorney (no legalization required – term for late filing: 2 months)
- Abstract, specification and claims;
- Drawings (term for late filing: 2 months);
- Translation of a granted European Patent to obtain validation in Italy under Art. 65 (1) EPC.
- Power of Attorney (no legalization required – term for late filing: 2 months)
- Full details of the European Patent and date of grant
- Specification, claims and drawings, if any – as accepted for grant.
- Translation of the claims of a published European Patent Application in order to obtain provisional protection in Italy under Art. 67(3) EPC.
- Power of Attorney (no legalization required – term for late filing: 2 months)
- Full details of the European Patent Application and the date of publication
- Copy of the claims to be translated, preferably attached to the abstract and specification copies and drawings, if any.
UTILITY MODELS
In Italy a protection can be obtained also through a Utility Model Patent.
It comprises any object, tool or inventive arrangement capable of improving efficiency or usefulness or apt to ease the functioning of a machine, machine tool, their parts and components, any new and peculiar arrangement, configuration or combination of parts or components, or implementation thereof.
Duration is 10 years from filing date. Fees may be paid by two quinquennial installments. No novelty examination is provided for and usually a Utility Model is granted in about 3 years.
REQUIREMENTS FOR FILING ITALIAN UTILITY MODEL APPLICATIONS
- Power of Attorney (no legalization required – term for late filing: 2 months);
- Abstract, specification and claims;
- Drawings (term for late filing: 2 months).
NEW PLANT VARIETY PROTECTION
New plant varieties need to be new, homogeneous, steady and different from those already existing. The exclusive right start from the date of granting and lasts 20 years;
TOPOGRAPHY OF SEMICONDUCTOR PRODUCTS
The series of drawings related to one another or coded that show the three-dimensional diagram of the layers of a semiconductor product. The exclusive rights obtained by the registration last 10 years computed from the end of the application filing year or the first marketing year.
WHAT IS A EUROPEAN PATENT?
A European Patent is a patent for an industrial invention which is obtained by an unified procedure from filing to granting that has effect in all countries of the European Patent Organization designated by the applicant after overcoming of a substantial examination.
The granting procedure requires the filing of only one application drawn up in English, French or German which enables to obtain a group of patents valid in the States members of the European Patent Convention.
Once the national validation procedure in the designated states is completed, European Patents give the patentee/owner the same rights that would come from the national filing procedure in the single states.