The Directorate General for the Protection of Industrial Property-Italian Patent and Trademark Office
The Directorate General for the Protection of Industrial Property - Italian Patent and Trademark Office is the national authority in charge of defining IPR promotion and protection policies, granting Italian patents and registering Italian trademarks and designs. It is one of the Directorates General of the Ministry of Economic Development, is based in Rome and has no local offices.
Its origin dates back to 1939 when the Italian Patent and Trademark Office was set up. For a long time the Office was a division within a Directorate General of the Ministry of Economic Develpment.
In 2009 the Office became a Directorate General within the same Ministry, enlarging its remit to include anticounterfeiting policies and hosting to this end the National Anti-Counterfeiting Council. Since then the Office has been known as the DG for the fight against counterfeiting -Italian Patent and Trademark Office.
More recently, with the Legislative Decree n.34 of 2019, its mission has been further enlarged to include the following:
- fight against the so called “Italian Sounding” products (products whose name sounds Italian and whose packaging has colours and images that reminds of Italy but actually they are not Italian)
- identification and implementation of measures for the valorisation of IPRs, especially among SMEs and innovative startups
- creation and management of the registry of historical trademarks
- management of the national phase of the international patent application
- promotion of collective and certification trademarks abroad
- assistance to Italian businesses in their legal disputes initiated abroad and concerning protection of their IPRs against “Italian Sounding”
The new, enlarged mission has been reflected in a change of name - from DG for the fighting against counterfeiting to DG for the Promotion of Industrial Property - hinting at the positive and beneficial effects that IPRs have on the national economy. Accordingly, the National Anticounterfeiting Council has changed its name into National Council for the fight against counterfeiting and Italian Sounding.
The DG for the Promotion of Industrial Property-Italian Patent and Trademark Office fulfills its mission by liaising and collaborating with other Offices and authorities both in the European Union and at international level.