IPT Italy

eSports: a new frontier for the advertising law and image rights?

/ / Advertising, General, IP, Sport

eSports competitions have recently become a trend topic among sports and gaming lovers.

An ever-growing number of major sports leagues and pro young players are getting involved in this global competitive industry, together with an increasing turnover. By 2020, eSports is predicted to become a billion-dollar industry.

This explosive growth of digital sports championships captured the attention of many leading companies – operating in various lines of business – which are gradually approaching this new phenomenon by investing into eSports in the hope of targeting its relevant audience.

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New programming and investment obligations for VOD and linear audio-visual media service providers!

/ / General, Intellectual Property, IP, Media & TLC, Telecoms, Video

On 25 January 2019, the Italian Communications Authority (Autorità per le Garanzie nelle Comunicazioni, hereinafter “AGCOM“) published the Resolution 595/18/CONS setting out the new Regulation on programming and investment obligations in favour of European works and works by independent producers (as amended by AGCOM Resolution 24/19/CONS) (hereinafter, “New Regulation“).

The New Regulation – which replaces the previous resolutions concerning the programming and investment quotas, including Resolution 66/09/CONS – was adopted on the basis of the Legislative Decree no. 204/2017, which amended the Consolidated Act on audio-visual media services and empowered AGCOM to set detailed rules applicable to linear and non-linear audio-visual media services providers, as well as to pay-per-view media services providers.

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Italian DLA Piper Intellectual Property & Technology Predictions for 2019

/ / General

DLA Piper’s Italian Intellectual Property & Technology department has published their Legal Predictions for 2019. These take a look back at what happened during 2018 and illustrate the key changes that are expected in 2019.

As you have seen through the blog posts published during the previous weeks on this blog, the publication covers 14 different topics, from more traditional areas of law such as trademarks, copyright, trade secrets and patents to innovative topics such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, FinTech and eSports, from life sciences to media, fashion, e-cigarettes and gambling, to privacy and cyber security, which were among the main challenges of 2018 and will continue to be so in 2019.

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Join our DLA Piper Gambling event right before ICE Gaming 2019

/ / General

DLA Piper Gambling event will take place on the 4th of February 2019 with experts from different jurisdictions and the Spanish gambling authority.

After the 2017 and 2018 editions, here is the 2019 edition of DLA Piper gambling event on the 4th of February 2019, right before the beginning of the ICE Gaming event.

Gambling regulatory regimes are in a constant state of change. New markets are opening up, new licenses are available and new obligations are being imposed on operators and suppliers. At the same time, newly introduced regulations represent considerable compliance obligations for the gambling market and the identification of the right balance between ensuring compliance and preserving business needs is getting exponentially complicated.

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Top 3 predictions for Media in 2019!

/ / General

2018 has been a crucial year for the audio-visual media sector since it saw the revision of EU Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD) which has finally put traditional broadcasters and their video-on-demand competitors on the same playing field in terms of the regulatory environment. Still, the ongoing transformation of the media landscape shows no sign of backing off, thanks also to the mushrooming partnerships raising among Over The Top video providers and traditional mobile network operators  and the adoption of technologies such as augmented reality and artificial. So, what’s next with media?

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Top 3 predictions on cybersecurity for 2019

/ / General

Cybersecurity represents a major risk for companies that will need to change their approach on security in 2019, also in relation to M&A transactions, and corrective actions might include a cyber risk insurance coverage according to our predictions.

According to a report published by Accenture, the average cost of cybercrime per organization in 2017 increased to $ 11.7 million, with countries like the US reaching $ 21.22 million. Such a cost was also considerable in Italy where it reached $ 6.73 million.

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Top 3 predictions for life sciences in 2019

/ / Artificial Intelligence, General, Life Science

The Life Sciences industry operates in one of the fastest and most innovation-driven environments. 2018 has witnessed significant developments in technology and therapeutic practices. A number of new cell and gene therapies – including the first two CAR-T therapies for cancer – received EU approval, and both disruptive and ‘new mainstream’ technologies (such as AI) made significant steps forward into the sector.

The pharmaceutical and medical device sectors are also among the most heavily regulated. Life Sciences companies face significant challenges in managing regulatory compliance in an environment where regulation constantly evolves. Moreover, the sector moves so fast that it is hard for regulation to keep up with the pace of technological development.

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Top 3 predictions on new tobacco products and e-cigs

/ / General, Intellectual Property

Since their first placing on the market, electronic cigarettes – better known as “e-cigs” – and novel tobacco products (“NTPs“) have been a controversial topic of discussion.

Due to the proximity of e-cigs and NTPs with traditional smoking products, lawmakers have had to deal with great issues involving not only authorization requirements and procedures but also issues concerning boundaries in advertisement, taxation and how to address problems such as underage smoking.

Directive 2014/40/EU sets out the general legal framework for NTPs, e-cigs and e-liquids (nicotine and nicotine-free liquids meant to be vaped) in the European Union. In Italy, the latter has been implemented by means of Legislative Decree 6/2016, which has already seen a number of amendments in roughly three years of life.

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Top 3 predictions for trade secrets in 2019

/ / Intellectual Property, IP

by Laura Gastaldi, Fulvia Cosattini, Micaela Jerusalmi Striking the balance between opposite demands In order to harmonize the different legislations adopted by each EU Member State and strengthen the protection of know-how and trade secrets, on the June 8, 2016, the EU Parliament and the Council of the EU enacted EU Directive No. 943/2016 (“the

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Top 3 privacy predictions for 2019

/ / Data Protection, General, Internet & E-commerce, IT & Sourcing

2018 brought us considerable changes in the data protection world. The EU General Data Protection Regulation No. 679/2016 (GDPR) finally became applicable, introducing in the privacy law context its expected innovative principles and rules. But as soon as the GDPR entered into force, the EU Member States began to think about the adequacy of their national legislation. As a consequence, most of EU countries decided to adopt a new local legislation in order to review, amend and, therefore, adequate their local laws to the newcomer GDPR.

But what will happen in the next 12 months? Here our personal predictions on privacy legal issues for 2019.

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Top 3 predictions for patent litigation in Italy and EU

/ / IP, Patents, UPC

The long story of the EU patent, commenced in 1975 (!) with the aborted Community Patent Treaty, which ultimately led to the Unitary Patent (established by Regulation (EU) No 1257/2012) and to the Unified Patent Court Agreement, done at Brussels on February 19, 2013 but not yet entered into force, will eventually come to a conclusion in 2019.

This very year will indeed clarify if and how Brexit will take place and affect the UP/UPC package and its entry into force, as well as the possible role of the UK in said system.

In parallel, the German constitutional court is expected to decide on the claim brought against the system and its compatibility with the German and EU laws; such a decision could easily mean a final “yes” or “no” to the system, the “no-side” including also the possibility that the case is referred to the EU Court of Justice.

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