Italy And The Trade Mark Directive

Implementation
Italy managed to implement the European Community Directive 21/12/88 for the harmonisation of the substantive law of validity and infringement of trade marks within the time specified by the Directive - a fact worthy of note. With the entering into force of the Decreto Legge no. 480/92 on 31/12/92 many of the optional as well as the obligatory provisions of the Directive were included in the new legislation which modified or substituted many of the provisions of the preceding trade mark law of 1942.

Changing Role of a Trade Mark
Traditionally, a trade mark in Italy has distinguished a product or service as deriving from a particular source of production. However, one of the innovations to emerge from the legislation is the new role of the trade mark which, on the one hand, is a means of communicating a complex message and, on the other, has a value in itself as an asset. Two provisions that illustrate this point are, firstly, the fact that anyone (not only