PGA Intellectual Property - Patents, Trademarks & Designs

The Madrid Agreement and the Madrid Protocol, the European Union's trademark system as well as national filing systems in Switzerland, Italy and the rest of the world offer a wide variety of tools and allow their respective owners to protect their trademark rights effectively and efficiently. Many times it is not easy to find the best and most effective way to obtain adequate protection: our firm starts from a complete understanding of the needs of the client to help him formulate the most suitable protection strategy in each country of interest and globally. Our services in the trademark area include: - prior art searches and trademark clearance; - Filing and prosecution of trademark applications in Switzerland before the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IGE/IPI), in Italy before the Italian Trademark Office, at European level before the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and before the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO); - coordination for the filing and prosecution of trademark applications worldwide; - opposition to trade marks; - renewal of trademarks; - judicial and extra-judicial protection of trademarks; - comprehensive trademark portfolio management strategies.

The protection through design offers an effective and fundamental tool for the protection of investments directed to the innovation of the aesthetic aspect of an article. Many products are in fact characterized by a particular and innovative design, which gives a significant added value to the products themselves. These typically include furniture components, lamps, toys, containers, clothing, appliances, but there are many other products that can validly take advantage of the protection provided by design regulations. Beyond the possibilities offered by national and international warehouses, the Community design provides a very advantageous economic protection that is directly recognized in each member state of the European Union (EU): depending on the needs and specific circumstances can be provided a right of design both registered and unregistered. Our Firm is able to assist its Clients in identifying aspects that may be protected by design and in formulating appropriate protection strategies. Our design services cover: - searches between earlier designs; - Filing and prosecution of design applications in Switzerland before the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IGE/IPI), in Italy before the Italian Trademark Office, at European level before the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and before the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO); - assistance and coordination for the filing and prosecution of design applications in the rest of the world; - design invalidity actions; - judicial and extra-judicial protection of design; - design renewal service; - comprehensive design portfolio management strategies.

The defence of trade mark and design rights is fundamental in today's economic landscape. Switzerland and Italy, in particular, are among the main European markets, where a large number of goods and services are designed, produced and marketed, often subject to imitation and counterfeiting. Every day the circulation of counterfeit goods and services creates enormous damage to the owners of industrial property rights who need to identify and act in time the most efficient tool to combat the advertising, production, marketing and import of counterfeit goods and services. In this context, PGA represents an important point of reference: our professionals specialized in trademarks and designs have a deep experience in the protection of such Industrial Property Rights. The Firm is able to provide assistance in the judicial and extra-judicial field by providing advice in resolving legal disputes, monitoring imports and exports of goods, coordinating with customs authorities and setting up protection strategies to give maximum added value to the interests of our customers.

We firmly believe that a valid patent needs careful drafting and adequate assistance during its prosecution: the outcome of legal disputes or oppositions is closely correlated with the quality of drafting and prosecution of the contested patent. Our Firm is led by experienced patent attorneys who work closely with our litigators. Our attorneys are particularly experienced and attentive to the implications of the initial drafting and/or prosecution of a patent application during subsequent opposition and/or litigation proceedings and are committed to providing prosecution services to the highest standards to give maximum value to our clients' patent rights. We assist our clients from the conception of new inventions to the formulation of protection strategies: in this area, our activity includes the execution of patent searches, the analysis of identified technical documents, the drafting of opinions on patentability and freedom of implementation, the drafting of patent applications, the prosecution of the same in Switzerland, Italy, Europe and the rest of the world, as well as the direct management of opposition proceedings before the EPO. To our non-European clients, in addition to an efficient and economically competitive prosecution of patent applications in Switzerland, Italy and Europe, we guarantee specific assistance during the drafting of their patent applications in order to put the description and claims in the best possible form for an effective prosecution in Europe. Our services in the patent area include: - Patent searches, clearance and FTOs; - Filing and prosecution of patent applications in Switzerland before the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IGE/IPI), in Italy before the Italian Trademark Office, at European level before the European Patent Office (EPO) and before the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO); - coordination for the filing and prosecution of patent applications worldwide; - opposition to patents; - payment of maintenance fees for patents; - judicial and extra-judicial protection of patents; - comprehensive patent portfolio management strategies.

Europe does not have a centralised system for handling patent litigation: the procedures, costs and duration of legal actions are therefore different in each European country. In both Switzerland and Italy, such disputes require special knowledge and experience from both a technical and legal point of view. In particular, cases of nullity and alleged patent infringement require the collaboration of lawyers, who manage the legal procedural aspects, and patent attorneys, who are able to deal with the technical and patent aspects. Our firm can offer both these professionals, also thanks to a close collaboration with some of the best law firms specializing in Intellectual Property, ensuring an efficient and cost-effective management and coordination of patent disputes. Our professionals have acquired a solid experience in handling patent litigation on behalf of both local and international clients: our international perspective allows us to assist our clients both in defending their rights at the national level and in the preparation of the most complex and detailed strategies in the international field.

PGA provides specialised patent, trademark and design research and analysis services for various purposes. These searches and analyses can be carried out, for example, in support of State of the Art assessments, patentability, freedom of implementation (FTO) and validity. We examine and analyse the results obtained from the research and provide our customers with a complete research report of our operational advice and high added value. Our offer in the field of patent information also includes a monitoring service on companies, technologies, the progress of the prosecution and the legal status of specific patent applications and granted patents. Patent research and analysis is carried out by Patent Attorneys who have acquired in-depth knowledge in the field of patent information, in particular patent and chemical databases, and have access to the best specialised commercial databases for which payment is required, in addition to the databases freely available on the Internet.