23 May 2007 - On 17 May 2007 the Constitutional Court handed down judgment no. 107, whereby it found article 134, paragraph 1, of the Industrial Property Code to be unconstitutional in the part thereof which provides that the special procedure for corporate litigation (Legislative Decree No. 5/2003) applies to legal proceedings concerning industrial property, unfair competition and antitrust infringements in relation to the exercise of industrial property rights. On 19 September 2005 the special procedure for corporate litigation had substituted the ordinary standard procedure in lawsuits in relation to the above matters. However, the decision of the Constitution Court marks the return of the application of the standard procedural rules laid down in the Civil Procedure Code (ordinary procedure). The question as to whether article 134, paragraph 1, of the Industrial Property Code was consistent with article 76 of the Constitution had been raised by the special industrial property section of the Court of Naples, and in its decision the Constitutional Court effectively found that such doubts were well founded. Therefore, as of the day after the publication of the judgment in the Official Gazette, which occurred on 23 May 2007, legal proceedings concerning Industrial Property, unfair competition and antitrust infringements in relation to the exercise of industrial property rights will once again be governed by the standard ordinary procedure. For any further information, please contact our law firm.