The Tribunal of Milan (full text here) has recently ruled (for the first time) over a thorny issue concerning the Patent Limitation Procedure regulated by art 79.3 of the Italian Industrial Property Code (“CPI”). The norm states that “In a proceeding concerning nullity, the owner of the patent has the right to submit to the Court, at any stage or instance of the trial, modified claims that remain within the limits of the content of the patent application as initially filed and that does not extend the protection conferred by the patent granted” (emphasis added).

The facts of the dispute are simple. Thermorossi S.p.A. claimed that several competitors infringed its European patent’s Italian Portion No EP 2 083 221 on “heating apparatuses such as pellet-fired stoves and thermostoves”. As counterclaim, the defendants filed an action for the declaration of invalidity of EP ‘221.

Since an Opposition was filed against EP ‘221 and the EPO decision (through which the Patent was amended) was published only after the Italian final hearing, the owner presented to the Tribunal a set of amended claims only in the final statement.

Despite Thermorossi had known EPO’s decision only after its final hearing, Milan’s Tribunal stated that the new set of claims could not be considered in that procedure because the final hearing had already identified the object of the trial. According to the Tribunal, in light of the Constitutional principle of reasonable delay (Article 111.1 Italian Constitution), the right to file a new set of claims cannot be exercised after the final hearing.

Due to this reason, the Tribunal took into account the patent as originally approved by the EPO. Furthermore, it declared the Italian portion of EP ‘221 invalid and consequently rejected all the requests filed by Thermorossi.

The Tribunal rightly points out that Article 79.3 CPI should be interpreted in light of the Constitutional principle of reasonable delay. This consideration is certainly well founded considering that the limitation procedure (which requires the modified claim to be within the content limits of the patent application as initially filed and does not allow to extend the protection conferred by the patent previously granted), often requires an in-depth technical analysis. However, while it is true that in applying Article 79.3 CPI the Judge has to respect the principle of reasonable delay, it is equally true that the Court must make a case by case assessment. The words “at any stage of the trial ” seem to admit the reformulation of the claims even after the final hearing if this is deemed necessary for the overall economy of the judicial procedure (the opposite solution would require the institution of a new trial).

Giovanna Sverzellati

Tribunal of Milan, IP section, decision of 20 October 2016, No. 11544