On June 3, 2015, after its initial presentation to Parliament in 2013, the Italian Chamber of Deputies finally approved a groundbreaking bill on class actions in Italy. If approved by the Senate, this bill will significantly expand the scope and impact of consumer class actions. Class Actions Have Had Limited Impact on Businesses So Far…

Last week the Italian Parliament converted into law Law Decree no. 132 of September 12, 2014 (the “Decree”) on measures aimed at reducing the backlog in civil proceedings. The Decree is part of a comprehensive reform of the Italian civil and criminal procedure systems recently announced by the Renzi government and is aimed, among other…

On December 12, 2013 the Italian Communications Authority (AGCOM) approved a new regulation on the enforcement of copyright in the context of online and audiovisual media services.This regulation will enter into force on March 31, 2014 and will require compliance with new policies and procedures. A groundbreaking innovation in the Italian and European media landscape for…

The recently formed Letta government has issued its first regulation aimed at restarting the Italian economy. This new regulation also concerns the field of justice, since it has several things to say regarding legal proceedings and the reduction of related expenses. In this brief alert we will focus on Law Decree no. 69/2013 (the “Decree”)…

La creatività è un elemento centrale, si potrebbe dire l’essenza stessa, di un’efficace campagna pubblicitaria. Nella pianificazione di una campagna pubblicitaria è importante avere consapevolezza degli strumenti che l’ordinamento mette a disposizione degli inserzionisti per la tutela della propria creatività...

Something new is happening in Italy, in terms of both trademark and copyright protection. Firstly Italian Courts have recently issued significant decisions which granted copyright protection to design works against their slavish reproduction by third parties. And secondly a shut-down of web-sites offering counterfeit products has been ordered by the Italian Antitrust Authority that found…

Introduction In 2012 the $21 billion Kinder Morgan bid for El Paso was challenged before the Delaware Court of Chancery due to alleged breach of fiduciary duties by both advisers and company executives. A billion-dollar deal, a chief executive officer with underlying motives and conflicted investment banks are the perfect elements of a modern play…

Si è già scritto tanto sulla decisione della corte d’Appello di Milano del 21 dicembre che chiude, in secondo grado, la saga Google versus Vividown, ribaltando la sentenza di condanna per trattamento illecito di dati che il Tribunale di Milano aveva emesso nei confronti di tre manager di Google. 
Forse, qualcuno potrebbe aggiungere, si è…

Arbitration is a common way of resolving commercial disputes in today’s business landscape. Especially in instances of complex disputes, parties are increasingly turning away from national dispute forums and are instead entrusting one or more arbitrators with the task of settling their disputes. The steady growth in popularity of arbitration can be observed both in…

Introduction The Italian manufacturing industry is composed of many firms which are family businesses, are small/medium-sized and, generally speaking, are not assisted by attorneys or a law firm in their day to day activities. As a consequence, it is very common that parties entering into a commercial relationship do not sign a comprehensive supply agreement….