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<h1>RACHELI & C. - CONSULTANTS IN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY</h1>
<p align="justify">Since 1925, RACHELI & C., a professional services firm
specialized in the field of industrial and intellectual property law,
has been offering consulting and representation assistance in Italy, the
European Union and abroad for securing, maintaining and defending <i>patents,
trademarks, designs, copyrights and domain names</i>. </p>
<p align="justify" class="textnormal">The firm boasts a team of legal and
technical professionals of consolidated experience and expertise, who
are able to assist business Clients in solving problems and create strategies
designed to maximize the value of their intangible assets, develop and
commercialize their products, services and ideas.
</p>
<h1>TRADEMARKS</h1>
<p align="justify"> A trademark is a distinctive sign which is used to identify
the goods and/or services that a business offers on the market. The trademark
is generally considered a strategic marketing tool as it communicates to the
public not only the commercial source of the goods and/or services, but also
the intrinsic qualities of these goods and/or services and their ability to
fulfil the needs and expectations of the public. As the business' market position
becomes consolidated, the trademark becomes a guarantee of the business' goodwill.
Therefore, trademarks are usually key assets of well-established businesses.
</p>
<p align="justify">In Italy, the registered trademark is the title which gives
the exclusive right on the distinctive sign used either by an individual or
a legal business entity to mark goods and/or services. This exclusive right
pertains to goods and services which are listed in the trademark registration,
and also to goods and services similar in nature, or which have similar channels
of distribution and are target markets. The purpose of the trademark is to
identify in the eyes of the public the source of the goods and/or services
in relation to which the trademark is used, to warranty the nature, quality
or geographical origin of the goods and/or services. </p>
<p align="justify">In the case of well-known trademarks, the exclusive rights
of the trademark owner cover any kind of product or service, since the unauthorized
use of the famous trademark by a third party is deemed to cause prejudice
to the trademark owner and an unfair benefit to the third party. </p>
<p align="justify">The trademark may consist of a logo or a word, or both, with
which the goods and/or services are marked. In particular, it may consist
of words, proper nouns, drawings, numbers, sounds, and the shape of the product
or of its packaging, combinations of chromatic shades and of shapes. </p>
<p align="justify">According to the Italian Trademark Law, the proposed mark
must comply with the following requirements:</p>
<ul>
<li> It must be distinctive,<i> i.e.</i> it must have visual, sound and conceptual
characteristics which would enable the consumer to distinguish the goods
and/or services for which it will be used from competing identical or similar
goods and/or services;
<li> It must be new, <i>i.e.</i> it cannot consist exclusively of a sign commonly
used in everyday language or regularly used in commerce; it cannot be identical
or similar to a prior registered trademark so as to create a risk of confusion
or association with this prior trademark; it cannot be identical or similar
to a prior well-known trademark, whether registered or unregistered, or
with a prior well-known business name or style, so as to cause a risk of
confusion or association with the well-known prior mark, business name or
style;
<li> It must be inherently distinctive, <i>i.e.</i> it must not be constituted
of generic or descriptive words when used in relation to the specific goods
or services for which the trademark is intended to be used, and which may
describe the nature, quality, quantity, the destination, the value, geographical
origin, date of creation or any other characteristic of the goods or services.
<li> It must not otherwise be prohibited, or be contrary to public policy or
accepted principles of morality.
</ul>
<p align="justify">The Italian Trademark Law also prohibits the registration
of marks which are likely to mislead the pubic, especially with regards
to the geographical origin, nature or quality of the goods and/or services;
three-dimensional marks which are solely dictated by the nature of the good,
which are necessary to achieve a technical result, or which gives substantial added value to
the good; symbols and emblems of public interest without the consent of the
competent public authority and those protected by international conventions,
such as the Olympic symbol. </p>
<p align="justify">However, a mark which is otherwise not inherently distinctive,
or which is commonly used in everyday language or regularly used in commerce
with regards to the goods or services, can be registered if it has acquired
distinctive character on the grounds of a notorious and widespread use. This
exception does not apply to three-dimensional marks whose shape is dictated
by the product's function. </p>
<p align="justify">The Law also provides that the following marks, cannot be
registered without the consent of third parties deemed to be entitled to their
use: portraits of persons; well-known marks/signs used in the fields of art,
literature, science, politics and sports; names of other persons and not of
the applicant, provided this does not damage their reputation; well-known
names, acronyms and symbols used by public events, associations and not-for-profit
organizations. </p>
<p align="justify"><b>The Italian Patent and Trademark Office does not carry
out novelty examinations for pending applications, so this could give rise
to conflicts with prior registered or pending trademarks. </b></p>
<p align="justify"><b>Therefore, anyone who wishes to adopt a trademark should
previously ascertain the absence of prior confusingly similar trademarks.
In this respect, it is recommended to request the advice of a qualified trademark
attorney who has the necessary means and ways to carry out the required searches.
</b> </p>
<p align="justify">It is also important to note that the Italian Trademark Law
does not currently provide for third party opposition proceedings, although
it is expected this measure will be introduced in the near future in order
to comply with the provisions of the Madrid Protocol, of which Italy is a
signatory. </p>
<p align="justify">In Italy, the time duration between the filing of the application
and the grant of the registration of a trademark is currently of approximately
two (2) years, although the Italian Patent and Trademark Office has introduced
reforms which may reduce the time required to obtain the certificate of registration.
</p>
<p align="justify">An Italian trademark must be used by its owner or licensee
within 5 years from its date of registration. A cancellation action can be
brought by a third party against the trademark registration on the grounds
of continuous non-use for the period of 5 years preceding the date of filing
of the cancellation action, if more than 5 years have passed since the date
of registration.</p>
<h2>Services TRADEMARKS</h2>
<p align="justify" > Racheli & C. offers its Clients full services relating
to filing and prosecuting Italian, Community and International trademark applications.
</p>
<p align="justify" >We also offer assistance in the following
areas:</p>
<ul>
<li> Negotiating and drafting assignments,
license agreements and other types of trademark related contracts;
<li> Trademark searching and watching;
<li> Consulting and advocacy related to trademark infringement
and trademark cancellation, by way of judicial proceedings or alternative
dispute resolution methods.
</ul>
<p align="justify" ><b>Our Client services include an on-line
access to our records of each Client's own trademark portfolio. </b></p>
<h1>DOMAIN NAMES</h1>
<p align="justify">The "domain name" is the name which is given to an Internet
address by which its numerical value is recognized by virtue of the Internet
Protocol System ("IPS"). </p>
<p align="justify"> An Internet address is usually composed of the following
elements: </p>
<ul>
<li> The acronym "http://", which is an abbreviation of Hyper Text Transport
Protocol;
<li> The acronym "www", which is an abbreviation of World Wide Web;
<li> The <i>Second Level Domain</i>, which can be freely chosen by the
user and constitutes its distinctive element, as for example "racheli"
in <b>http://www.racheli.it</b>;
<li> The ending of the Internet address, which is known as the <i>Top Level
Domain</i> ("TLD's"), which indicates the nature or origin of the Internet
domain: topical TLD's are typically ".com" used to identify commercial web
sites, while ".net" or ".org" are more typically used to identify the sites
of non-commercial entities and organizations; or <i>Country Code Top Level
Domains</i> (CCTLD's), which operate as an indicator of origin of the respective
country where the domain originates, as in ".it" for Italian domains and
".ca" for Canadian domains.
</ul>
<p align="justify">In Italy the entities which are responsible for the assignment
and registration of ".it" second level domain names are the <i>Naming
Authority Italiana</i> and the <i>Registration Authority Italiana</i>,
two non-governmental bodies which adhere the Internet community through
institutions such as the Internet Society and the ICANN. </p>
<p align="justify">The requirements for obtaining an ".it" domain name registration
are: </p>
<ul>
<li> domain names are granted on a "first-come, first-served" basis;
<li> the applicant must be a legal entity constituted and domiciled in a country of the European Union, or a physical person who is a permanent resident of an EU member country;
<li> the domain name must not come into conflict with the rights of third parties to the lawful use of that name, and in particular third party rights in a trademark, personal or business name, nor be the name of a government body or organization;
<li> the domain name <i>cannot be</i> requested for the sole purpose of being
registered and used in bad faith.
</UL>
<p align="justify">The Registration Authority also requires the applicant
to execute a declaration of assumption of civil and penal liability for
the use and registration of the domain name. </p>
<p align="justify"><b>Therefore, it is recommended to perform a prior search
among trademarks, business names and domain names valid in Italy before requesting
the registration of a domain name. </b></p>
<p align="justify">In addition, the Registration Authority and the Naming Authority
have recently adopted an identical version of ICANN's dispute resolution rules,
which provide for Mandatory Administrative Procedures in the case of domain
names which infringe third party rights and which have been registered and
used in bad faith, and for remedies such as the cancellation or re-assignment
of the domain name registration to rightfully entitled third parties. The
MAP is heard before private panels of experts and has already proven an inexpensive
and quick means to battle cyber-squatters. </p>
<h2>Services DOMAIN NAMES</h2>
<p align="justify"> Racheli & C. offers its Clients assistance in clearing
and requesting domain name registrations, watching for domain names as
well as advice and representation in all disputes involving domain names.
</p>
<h1>PATENTS AND DESIGNS</h1>
<p align="justify"> A patent is an exclusive right on the working and exploitation
of an innovation within the territory of a State, which is granted by a State
(or by an organization of States) to the author of the invention or to his
legal successors or parties having the right thereon for a certain number
of years. </p>
<p align="justify"><b>The innovation can be of a technical nature (in Italy, the
protection by means of a patent for invention or a patent for utility model)
or an aesthetic nature (in Italy, the protection by means of a patent for
industrial design or patent for multiple industrial design is foreseen).</b></p>
<h2>Services PATENTS AND DESIGNS</h2>
<p align="justify"> Racheli & C. offers its Clients full
services relating to filing and prosecuting Italian, European and Euro-PCT
patent applications, including validation of European patents in the various
EPC member countries, as well as to filing and prosecuting Italian utility
model and industrial design patent applications. </p>
<p align="justify">We also offer assistance in the following
areas:</p>
<ul>
<li>Negotiating and drafting assignments, license agreements, confidentiality and non-competition agreements and other types of patent/trade secrets related contracts;
<li>Patent searching and watching;
<li>Consulting and advocacy related to patent infringement and validity, by way of judicial proceedings or alternative dispute resolution methods.
</ul>
<p align="justify"><b>Our Client services include an on-line
access to our records of each Client's own patent portfolio.</b> </p>
<h1>TOPOGRAPHIES</h1>
<p align="justify" class="textnormal"> A topography of a semi-conductor
product (integrated circuit designs) is considered a series of related
designs, however fixed or encoded, (i) representing the tree-dimensional
pattern of the layers of which a semi-conductor product is composed, (ii)
in which series each image reproduces in total or in part a surface of
the semi-conductor product at any state of its manufacture.</p>
<p align="justify" class="textnormal"> Topographies may be protected which
are the result of creative intellectual effort on the part of their creator(s),
and are not commonplace or ordinary in the semi-conductor product industry.</p>
<p align="justify" class="textnormal"> The creator or his successor in title
or, where applicable, the creator's employer or the person who commissioned
the topography, can apply for registration of a topography in Italy at
the latest within 2 years from the date of first commercial exploitation
anywhere in the world. The duration of the protection is 10 years from
the end of the calendar year in which the topography or the semi-conductor
product embodying the topography has been commercially exploited for the
first time anywhere in the world, or in which the application for registration
has been filed, whichever period expires first.</p>
<p align="justify" class="textnormal"> The procedure for registering topographies
foresees an examination, which as a matter of fact, is limited purely
to formal matters.</p>
<p align="justify" class="textnormal"> In case of refusal of the application,
an appeal may be lodged with the Board of Appeal within 30 days from the
Notification of Refusal. In case the examination of the appeal has a positive
outcome, the applicant will be invited to pay the registration fee within
60 days from the invitation. The documents and drawings of the application
will be opened to public inspection as of the date of registration, but
the applicant may request upon application for registration to defer such
publication until the first commercial exploitation, for a maximum period
of one year from the registration date. </p>
<h1>NEW PLANT VARIETIES</h1>
<p align="justify" class="textnormal"> Italy is a member of the International
Union for the Protection of New Plant Varieties (UPOV).</p>
<p align="justify" class="textnormal"> Those varieties of plants are eligible
for protection in Italy which are new and apt to be used in agriculture
or industry. Protection is reserved only to those kinds of plants appearing
on an official list, which may be supplemented from time to time. </p>
<p align="justify" class="textnormal">Foreign applicants must appoint an
agent admitted to practice before the Italian Patent and Trademark Office.
</p>
<p align="justify" class="textnormal">Applications for plant variety patents
are subject to a formal examination. However, observations from third
parties are admitted, to which the applicant may file counter-statements.
There are no third party opposition proceedings.</p>
<p align="justify" class="textnormal"> The duration of a patent is 15 or
30 years from the grant, depending on the kind of plant. Plant patents
are subject to annual maintenance fees and are treated as patents for
inventions. </p>
<h1>COPYRIGHT AND SOFTWARE RIGHTS</h1>
<p align="justify">Copyright protects all works having an intellectual character,
wherever originating. The scope of protection of copyright is over the
formal expression and not the ideas embodied in the work. </p>
<p align="justify">This definition includes all the works of any nature
in the artistic field, such as literary, musical, dramatic, choreographic,
cinematographic and fine arts works. Other protected works include: scientific
and educational writings; works of architecture, graphic design and photography;
radio and television works.</p>
<p align="justify"> Furthermore, the Italian Copyright Law was recently
amended to protect works in new technologies: software, data bases and
multimedia works such as computer games, digital works on CD-ROM's, DVD's
and Internet audio-video files. </p>
<p align="justify">Owners of the copyright have the exclusive right to the commercial
use of the work, as well as the right to reproduce and distribute or authorize
third party reproduction and distribution in any way. </p>
<p align="justify">More recently, the Italian Copyright Law was further
amended to prohibit private unauthorized copying of software within a
business organization, for the purpose of avoiding additional license
fees. </p>
<p align="justify">The duration of the copyright commences on the date of
creation of the completed work. It is generally recommended to register
the creation of the work with a national copyright registry before the
first publication of the work as means of proof of authorship against
third parties. The Copyright regulations provide for the filing of published
computer programs in a special software register. </p>
<p align="justify">In Italy the national registry and royalty collection agency
is the Società italiana degli autori ed editori (SIAE). </p>
<p align="justify">The copyright generally expires 70 years after the death
of the author or of the last surviving author in the case of collective works.
The SIAE is also responsible for administering the special register of software
programs. </p>
<p align="justify">In addition to copyright, Italian law recognizes moral rights,
which are the sole right of the author to maintain the integrity of the work
and his or her reputation, as well as ancillary rights known as neighbouring
rights, which include the rights of producers of musical recordings, of actors
and performers, of authors of theatrical plays, of photographers and authors
of engineering projects to receive a royalty for the <i>performance</i> of
a work.</p>
<p align="justify"> The purpose of this widening in the scope of protection
in intellectual property is to fight against the piracy and counterfeiting
of phonographic and audiovisual works, which has increased dramatically
in Italy in recent years. </p>
<h2>Services COPYRIGHT AND SOFTWARE RIGHTS</h2>
<p align="justify"> Racheli & C. can assist you in the filing of an unpublished
work for registration of authorship with the SIAE and in the legal defence
of your copyrights, including actions to combat piracy and counterfeiting
of copyrighted works with Italian police and customs authorities. </p>
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