IP Law Galli

Founded and headed by Cesare Galli, IP Law Galli operates mainly in the field of IP law, but also covers general commercial and competition/antitrust law. As is usual in the Italian IP field, the firm is a highly specialised boutique, with its main office in Milan and branch offices in Brescia, Parma and Verona.

The firm specialises in intellectual property, including patents, with specific experience in pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, computer and software, technology, media and telecommunications, information technology, design registrations, patent litigation and licensing, trade secrets, technology litigation, technology transfer and licensing, trademarks (litigation and licensing), domain names, unfair competition and passing off, advertising and media law, and copyright and neighbouring rights.

The firm has been involved in key cases in Europe concerning all branches of IP law, in particular patents and trademarks, and often tackling cross-border problems (Professor Galli is also the author of important essays on this issue). In 1999 Professor Galli obtained the first Italian final ruling on biotech patents. In 2004 he also obtained the first Italian ruling on the validity of a computer-implemented invention patent. In 2005 the firm obtained and successfully enforced the first ex parte orders ever granted in Italy for the seizure and description of secret documents and computer files stolen by former employees. Similarly, in 2006 the firm successfully represented an unregistered trademark owner in the first Italian case concerning the protection of unregistered trademarks under the new IP Code against parasitical exploitation and lookalikes. In 2005, 2008, 2009 and 2012 the firm secured key decisions on the extended protection of renowned trademarks, including FERRARI, BLUMARINE and BULGARI.

Between 2009 and 2012 Professor Galli and Mariangela Bogni obtained landmark decisions in the patent field with regard to biotech, pharmaceutical, chemical and electronic patents on behalf of prominent multinational companies. From 2009 to 2011 Professor Galli successfully represented Assoluce before the European Court of Justice in Flos v Semeraro, which concerned the Italian rules on copyright design protection.

Professor Galli, Dr Bogni and other members of the firm regularly contribute to Italian and international IP law reviews and Italian financial newspapers, such as Il Sole- 24 Ore and Italia Oggi. Professor Galli is also the author of numerous publications in the IP law field, including various well-known books and commentaries. In 2011 he edited, together with Professor Gambino, the new Italian Commentary on IP Code and Copyright Law, published by UTET-Wolters Kluwer.

In 2004 Professor Galli was called as an expert by the Parliamentary Commission of Production Activities of the Chamber of Deputies to give an opinion on the new IP Code. In 2005 and 2009 he was appointed as a member of the government commission in charge of revising and amending the IP Code. He also acted as a member of the permanent advisory board of the High Commissioner for the Fight against Infringement from 2006 to 2008.

In 2009 he was appointed as a member of the Sub-group on the Legal Framework of the European Commission Counterfeiting and Piracy Observatory, where he worked on the implementation of the EU IP Rights Enforcement Directive and its possible amendments. He further cooperates with Indicam and Confindustria in their IP rights protection and anti-counterfeiting activities.

In 2011 he was invited by the Ministry of Economic Development to join the National Anti-counterfeiting Council (CNAC). As director of the Trademarks Board of the Italian division of the International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (AIPPI), since 2004 Professor Galli has represented Italy at AIPPI congresses and ExCo meetings, drawing up – together with other board members – the Italian reports on all questions regarding trademarks. At the 2007 AIPPI ExCo Meeting, held in Singapore, he was appointed chairman of the Working Committee on Question Q194, relating to limitations to trademark rights.

The firm’s clients include large industrial groups working in the food and chemical sectors and companies operating in cutting-edge fields such as design and new technologies, as well as leading companies in the fields of fashion and luxury goods, mechanics, electromechanics, pharmaceuticals and agricultural processing. The firm also advises important international publishers on copyright issues, and has been instructed by major international companies to coordinate the defence of their famous trademarks in Italy.