SIB - Società Italiana Brevetti

ITALY - LEGISLATION UPDATE

Italy 's Financial Law 2007, published on 2 January 2007, has reintroduced the government fees for patents, utility models and designs which had been cancelled as from 1 January 2006 by the previous Financial Law 2006.

Which fees have been reintroduced

The Financial Law 2007 has empowered the Government to reintroduce

• government fees for applications and prosecutions concerning Italian patents, utility models and designs
• maintenance fees for Italian patents and European patents validated in Italy (only as from the 5 th annuity), and for Italian utility models and designs (only as from the second 5-year period).

The new schedule of fees encourages online filing by applying very low rates, anticipates the introduction of novelty searches for domestic patents, mostly at the expense of the Italian Patent and Trademark Office, and keeps maintenance fees at a reasonable level. The schedule also includes an opposition fee for trademarks under an opposition procedure which however is not yet in place. Universities and public bodies which include research among their institutional purposes are exempted from paying government filing fees for patents and utility models filed in their name.

Please note that the cancellation of fees in 2006 did not concern supplementary protection certificates, semiconductor topographies, new plant varieties and trademarks, none of which (except for trademarks, with the new opposition fee) are therefore interested by the changes described above and for which previous official fees remain applicable.

Amounts and payment time limits

Although the Financial Law 2007 is already in force, the amounts of the reintroduced fees have not yet been finalised. The Government will issue a decree, probably by the end of January, determining the amounts and time limits for payment.

11 January 2007