PLANT VARIETY

The exclusive rights for the new plant varieties rights have a term of 20 years from the grant of the right (30 years for vine and tree species).

A new plant variety is a new, homogeneous, stable plant variety which is distinct from existing varieties. Applications for new plant varieties must contain:

• the denomination that the applicant intends to give to the plant variety in accordance with the statutory requirements:
• any information that may be of use for the examination of the application, in addition to the other documents required for any type of invention: 
• a declaration of novelty and of any third party rights.

The documentation is laid open to the public 30 days after filing of the application: anyone interested may submit comments which are forwarded to the applicant for possible response. Six months after filing, or when the application is complete, a copy is forwarded to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, whose task is to carry out technical investigations regarding the statutory requirements in respect of patentability.

The outcome of these investigations is forwarded to an Intergovernmental Commission which issues a mandatory opinion on the grant or refusal of the patent

SEMICONDUCTOR

The exclusive rights conferred by the registration of semiconductor products topographies have a term of 10 years from the first of the following dates:

– the end of the civil year during which there was initial commercial exploitation:

– the end of the civil year in which the application was filed.

A topography of a semiconductor product means a set of correlated drawings, no matter how drawn up or codified, showing a three-dimensional diagram of the layers making up a semiconductor product, each of the drawings in this set wholly or partly reproducing a surface of the semiconductor product at any stage of its manufacture. Exclusive rights may be obtained for topographies resulting from the creative intellectual efforts of their author, if they are not common or familiar in the semiconductor products industry. Exclusive rights may also be obtained for topographies resulting from a combination of common or familiar elements, provided that they comply in full with the above requirements. The protection granted to semiconductor product topographies does not extend to the concepts, processes, systems, techniques or codified information incorporated in these topographies.

For the registration of a semiconductor products topography, the following must be attached to the application: – drawings and documents making possible to identify the topography:

• a declaration certifying, where appropriate, the date of initial commercial exploitation:
• a receipt of payment of the examination fees.

The application documents are laid open to the public on the date of registration unless the proprietor requests a postponement until initial commercial exploitation: this postponement cannot be for more than one year from registration.

Supplementary protection certificate

This certificate is valid from the date of expiry of the patent for a period equivalent to the time elapsed between the date of the patent application and the authorization for marketing the product, up to a maximum of 5 years.

A supplementary protection certificate is a legal title that extends the duration of the exclusive patent right, solely in respect of medicines or plant health products obtained by patent, in order to make up for the time that has elapsed between the date of the patent application and the authorization for marketing the product.

Applications can be made only to the Italian Patent and Trademark Office within six months from the date of the initial Ministerial Order authorizing marketing or, if the latter was issued prior to the grant of the patent, within six months from the grant. The following must be attached to the application:

• a copy of the patent in question, together with a declaration from the applicant that it is still in force:

• a copy of an Order from the Ministry of Health authorizing marketing of the medicine or plant health product:

• a receipt of payment of the prescribed fee.

When the initial authorization has been issued in another Member State of the European Union a copy of the Official Gazette of the Member State in which this authorization has been published, must be filed together with a copy of the Italian Ministerial Order. More informations can be find in the IPTO web site (http://www.uibm.gov.it/)