From 1 December 2020 the CNIPA-EPO pilot (which will run for two years) will give nationals or residents of the P.R. China the option to select the EPO as their International Searching Authority (ISA) and as their International Preliminary Examining Authority (IPEA), when filing international patent applications under the PCT for which either the CNIPA or the International Bureau (IB) of WIPO acts as receiving Office. 

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On the 16th of April 2020 a recent decree came into force in Italy, setting up a new register of the so-called “Historical Trademarks of National Interest”.

The trademarks registered and maintained in force, or used, continuously for at least 50 years, may be qualified as such upon request made by the concerned party.

Such requests and their compliance with the requirements shall undergo verification by the Italian Patent and Trademark Office within a maximum time limit of 60 days, as far as registered trademarks are concerned, and 180 days in case of non-registered trademarks.

If the request is accepted, the relevant applicant will be entitled to use, for promotional purposes, the following logo: 

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The suspension of terms announced by the Italian Patent and Trademark Office last March 11, 2020 has been extended by Italian decree 18/2020.

The suspension concerns all terms, including mandatory, for the activities originally due between 23 February 2020 and 15 April 2020, such as opposition activities.

With regard to annual activities and renewals due in the period from January 31 2020 to April 15 2020, the term is extended to June 15, 2020

source: uibm.mise.gov.it

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Close to our clients remotely. In compliance with the sanitary rules to contrast the COVID-19 emergency, De Simone & Partners does not stop and confirms to be active and to regularly comply with all the activities on behalf of its clients.

Italian Patent and Trademark Office

The Italian Patent and Trademark Office suspended the terms expiring between 9 March and 3 April 2020 with the exception of the peremptory terms of the opposition to trademark registration procedure, referred to in Article 176 of Italian Industrial Property Code (IIPC), and of the notified appeals, referred to in Article 147, paragraph 1, of IIPC. There is no need for specific requests from the interested parties. Once the suspension period is over, the terms start to run again for the remaining part. 

Starting dates and deadlines of some of UIBM incentives have been postponed

Marchi+3 (for trademarks): new starting date for sending applications is 6 May 2020 at 9am (instead of 30 March 2020)

Disegni+4 (for designs): new starting date for sending applications is 22 April 2020 at 9am (after being already postponed from 27 February to 19 March)

Proof of Concept 2020 (valorization of IPRs owned by universities and research centers): the deadline (expiration date for sending applications) has been postponed to 20 April 2020 at 12pm (after being already postponed from 27 February to 19 March)

Court proceedings

All civil and criminal hearings scheduled between March 9 and 22 have been adjourned and will be re- scheduled to a date after March 22, 2020. 

All procedural deadlines for civil and criminal proceedings are suspended until March 22 and are automatically postponed after such date. 

Please do not hesitate to contact us for any clarification.