Starting from the 16th of April 2020, it will be finally possible to apply to register an owned trademark in the Official Italian register of historic marks of national interest.
The owner of the mark or its exclusive licensee can file the request with a telematic application to the Italian Patent and Trademark Office.
Regularly registered and renewed trademark for at least 50 years can be registered in a special register of historical trademark, by attaching a record of the first registration and the following renewals and a document of possible variations of the classes.
Moreover, it will be possible to register in the register even unregistered trademarks by demonstrating with a series of documents that there has been an effective and continuous use of the mark for at least 50 years.
The evidence to submit could be of various kinds: packaging samples, labels, price lists, catalogs, invoices, shipping or export documents, photos, news ads, and written statements.
The Italian Patent and Trademark Office (UIBM) reserves the right to request supplementary documentation and will assess the registered trademark application in 60 days and the unregistered trademarks ones in 180 days.
The inclusion in the register will be permanent, without the need for renewals, and it will entail the possibility to use the badge “Historic mark of national interest” beside the owned trademark for commercial and promotional purposes.
The goal is to enhance the protection of the Made in Italy products and to fight the bias that identifies as Italian goods or services that are unrelated to Italy.