Decree No. 119 of the Italian Ministry of economic development, dated 1 June 2021, has amended the implementing regulation of the Italian Industrial Property Code; the changes came into effect on 9 September 2021 and include indications on how to represent marks other than graphically in Italian trademark applications.

Decree No. 119 of the Italian Ministry of economic development of 1 June 2021, in force as of 9 September 2021, has amended the implementing regulation of the Italian Industrial Property Code as required by Italian implementation laws of the so-called “EU trademark reform package”, launched in 2015 for the purpose of bringing important changes in both national and EU-wide trademark protection systems (read more here).

Changes introduced by the decree include practical aspects of the abolition the requirement that marks be represented graphically in Italian trademark applications; the mark may now be represented in any suitable form, providing that it can be reproduced in the register in a clear and precise manner, allowing authorities and the public to determine clearly and precisely the object of the protection conferred to the holder.

The decree lists the types of trademarks as follows:

– word;

– figurative,

– tridimensional shape,

– position,

– repeated patterns;

– colour;

– sound;

– movement;

– multimedia;

– hologram;

and gives detailed instructions concerning the means of reproduction of the trademark to be included in the trademark application, as well as about when a description of the mark should be added.

The decree sets forth that if the mark includes words with a meaning expressed in a foreign language, the trademark application must include an Italian translation; if the mark includes characters other than Latin ones, or numerals other than Arabic or Roman ones, the application must also include a transliteration.

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