Copyright: Daniel Cox’s wolf is a work of art

The Court of Milan upheld the claims of photographer Daniel Cox in the dispute with fashion designer Antonio Marras. In particular, Marras reproduced the iconic photograph of the wolf howling among the snowflakes taken by Daniel Cox on some garments. The photo was found on Google and reproduced by Antonio Marras without asking Cox’s authorization and without mentioning his name.
The Italian judges in Milan have therefore followed an approach already expressed by other Italian Courts which, implicitly referring to the criterion of the “worthiness” of the work, refers to meta-legal criteria and in particular to the theory that a creation can be defined “art” only if the art world defines it as such.
The Court therefore prevented Marras from reproducing, marketing or further distributing the photograph in any form whatsoever, and ordered him to pay damages and legal costs.

Voucher 3i

The Italian Ministry of Economic Development has adopted the executive decree establishing the opening of the deadline for applying for the “Voucher 3i – Investing in innovation”.
You can find further information here.

EUIPO: new indications for the post-COVID phase

In response to the exceptional circumstances created by the Covid-19 outbreak, the Executive Director of the European Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) issued Decision No EX-20-3 and the subsequent Decision No EX-20-4, both concerning the extension of time limits in proceedings before the Office.
However, with effect from 18 May 2020, those extensions ceased to apply. EUIPO therefore issued a guidance note on time limits after the end of the extension period.

EBA: Patentability of plants and animals

On 14 May 2020, the Enlarged Board of Appeal (EBA), the highest level of judicial authority of the European Patent Office (EPO), issued its opinion G 3/19 (Peper) on the patentability of plants and animals.
After the decision of 5 December 2018 (Case T 1063/18), the EPO’s attention was again drawn to the issue of the patentability of plants and animals obtained exclusively by an essentially biological process. The EBA’s opinion had been sought on this issue.
The EBA therefore adopted a dynamic interpretation of the exception to patentability under Article 53(b) of the European Patent Convention (EPC) and stated that the non-patentability of essentially organic processes for the production of plants or animals also extends to plant or animal products obtained exclusively by an essentially organic process.