The deprecated slowness of the Italian Courts has caused the phenomenon of the so-called "Italian Torpedo Actions"1, in litigation having as object non-Italian patents. To sum up: Torpedo Action usually amounts to non-infringement proceeding of a foreign patent brought before an Italian Court against a person not domiciled in Italy. The jurisdiction of the Italian Court would be justified by applying art. 7 (2) of Reg. EU 1215/2012, that provides that "A person domiciled [...]

Upon discovery of a novel biological target, an applicant may attempt to patent antibodies directed to the target, as such antibodies may have diagnostic and/or therapeutic applications. In the past, it has been possible to claim such antibodies in the US by merely stating that they are capable of binding the new biological target, and it was not necessary to characterise the structure or sequence of the antibody. Such an approach appears to be [...]

When your favourite local cover band performs an exact rendition of Brown-Eyed Girl, Sweet Home Alabamaor Wagon Wheel, are they infringing the copyright of the song's owner? Can cover bands and tribute bands be accused of "piracy" like the online file sharing community? Unfortunately, the current answer in copyright law is "yes" to both questions. Copyright Act As a starting point, under the Copyright Act, a reproduction of any work, such as performing a well-known song in a [...]