On May, 27th 2019 Marella Naj-Oleari will talk about fashion and confidential information during the lecture for the Fashion Law Masterclass of the University of Milan. There are many secrets in fashion industry, not always well protected. Every day designers, creative directors and style offices create clothes, logos, fabrics, bags and accessories that require strict confidence throughout the entire creative, production and distribution process. Social share

Good news for luxury brands. The European Court of Justice has stated that suppliers of luxury goods can prohibit their authorised distributors from selling their goods on third-party internet platforms, such as Amazon (C230/16, Coty). The decision may have a great impact on online distribution practices, allowing luxury brands to legally ask their authorised distributors to sell the goods online, provided that they use their own electronic shop window or non-authorised third-party platforms, if the use of such platforms is not discernible to the consumer. Social share

Counterfeit across social medias is growing. The Italian financial newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore recently published an article about sales of luxury products on Istagram. Counterfeiters post photos of fake bags, shoes and clothes by using genuine trademarks and pictures of the products. Prices don’t deviate from the original ones in order to look like clearance or outlet prices. Users are then invited to contact the seller by Whatsapp or other platforms and to pay in advance by using Paypal or Italian Postepay. After two or three weeks users receive the ordered products by courier and discover to h

On June, 23 2016 the Court of Milan ruled that selling goals in a licence agreement are a mere business prevision and, even if mendacious, do not allow the licensee to terminate the agreement. However the Court can reconsider royalties advanced payment dues if clearly disproportionate compared to what actually obtained from the licensor during the first contractual year. Social share

Fashion and confidential information will be the main topics of the lecture to be held on May 23, 2016 by Marella Naj-Oleari at the University of Milan. Fashion companies often deal with confidential information that need to be regulated not only in the relations with employees but also in agreements with suppliers, distributors and agents. The secret could involve both “technical” and “commercial” know-how, such as the composition of a new fabric, the design of a collection, company marketing plans, client lists and pricing information. The protection of tradesecrets a

In its ruling 12076/15 dated May 11, 2015 the Court of Rome stated that, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, posting a photograph on a Facebook profile can prove that the user owns the related intellectual property rights. Social share

A decision dated December 9, 2014 of the Court of Rome states that Facebook groups names should be considered atypical distinctive signs if used for business purposes. Therefore the appropriation and exploitation of Facebook groups can represent a competitive offence and a trademark rights infringement. The decision of the Court of Rome confirms the principle stated by the Court of Turin. Here you can find a brief comment on the decision. Social share

The Court of Milan with a judgment dated January 21, 2015 stated that a merger between two or more companies does not constitute a legal succession but could constitute a modification affecting the structure of the companies. In accordance with the Supreme Court decisions nos. 2637 of 2006 and 10653 of 2010, the Court of Milan stated that “the full extent of a merger or incorporation is a modification of the deed of incorporation of the companies participating in the operation, in order to allow the continuation of corporate relationships in the new structure decided by the shareholders”. Art.

Do we really know people who live around us? Two similar stories, belonging to different centuries and distant countries, but do not have the same ending. Vivian Maier is considered one of the most important artists of street photography in the 1900s. Never having been married, no children, she worked for 50 years as nanny in Chicago and her biggest passion was photography. Her extraordinary talent was discovered in an old cupboard which was sold at auction and which contained more than 100,000 negatives taken by Vivian throughout her life (https://www.vivianmaier.com/film-finding-vivian-maier

In the United States there is much discussion about the decision (18 June 2014) of The US Patent Office to cancel six trademarks registered between 1967 and 1990 by the famous football team Washington Redskins, all of them containing the name ‘Redskins’. ‘Redskin’ is considered an epithet disparaging and racist from a part of the Native American community . For this reason, in 2006, a group made up of six Native Americans asked the Office to cancel the trademarks appealing to the Lanham Act (Section 2), which prohibits the registration of trademarks that “may disparage”