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23/04/2024
On the Pulse webinar series 2024
Welcome to the 2024 On the Pulse webinar series.  This webinar series brings you updates on the latest legal and commercial developments in the life sciences & healthcare sector from around the world. Over the coming period, we will be hosting two webinars on:Unified Patent Court (UPC) - 23 AprilEU Pharma Package - 18 JuneEach webinar will be one hour in length with a 15-minute Q&A session.
18/04/2024
Transforming the Legal Landscape? The Impact of LLMs
Large Language Models (LLMs) are a branch of artificial intelligence (AI) that can generate human-like text based on deep learning techniques. LLMs are trained on massive amounts of textual data, such...
17/04/2024
CMS data protection update (04/2024)
I. The latest from the data protection authorities and current topics1. EDPB: Launch of coordinated enforcement on the right of accessThe European Data Protection Board (EDPB) selected the right of access...
11/04/2024
Navigating clinical trial disclosures: No reasonable expectation of success...
Recent EPO Board of Appeal decision T 1437/21 adds to a growing number of decisions concerning the patentability of second or further medical use inventions where the prior art relates to a clinical trial...
09/04/2024
CMS European M&A Study 2024: Optimism for M&A amid evolving market trends
The CMS Corporate/M&A Group is pleased to launch the 16th edition of the European M&A Study.It's been a wild ride for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) around the world this year. Yet, despite the turbulence...
09/04/2024
Designs practice update: EU Court of Justice upholds Advocate General’s...
BackgroundIn our previous article (here), we discussed the opinion of Advocate General Capeta in EUIPO v The KaiKai Company Jaeger Wichmann. That opinion was provided following an appeal against the General...
09/04/2024
The sum of parts: Registered design for segments of towers found valid...
BackgroundTA Towers ApS (“TA Towers”), a company based in Denmark, is the holder of the below registered Community design relating to goods for building materials, specifically, ‘building materials...
08/04/2024
EU Commission enforces obligation to provide correct and complete information...
EU merger control law provides for an obligation of the parties to provide correct and complete information in merger control proceedings. This obligation has a very high relevance for the European Commission...
08/04/2024
Guide on minimum wage in Italy
Introduction Italy, as is well known, is the only OECD country where wages are falling rather than rising, while the cost of living is rising. It is also one of a few EU countries without a minimum wage law.121 Member States have specific minimum wage laws, while in 6 others (Italy, Denmark, Cyprus, Austria, Finland and Sweden), the minimum wage is set by collective bargaining. footnoteA bill on minimum wage is currently before the Italian parliament, but it does not specify how much the minimum wage should be. According to a study, 2Report of the Clean Clothes Campaign, 2024, available at https://www. abitipuliti. org/wp-con­tent/up­loads/2022/06/Salari­od­ig­nitoso_ag­giorna­mento2024. pdf https://www. abitipuliti. org/wp-con­tent/up­loads/2022/06/Salari­od­ig­nitoso_ag­giorna­mento2024. pdffootnote the amount should be EUR 11.50 per hour of work. To date, the minimum wage has been determined by collective agreements (the National Collective Bargaining Agreements, NCBA for short). Recently, however, this principle has been challenged in part by the Supreme Court, which intervened by recalling that selecting an NCBA is not sufficient to ensure compliance with the principles of “remuneration proportionate to the quantity and quality of work” and “sufficient to ensure the worker and his or her family a free and dignified existence” set out in article 36 of the constitution. In fact, the Supreme Court has recently partially overturned its own historical orientation, stating that where the NCBA adopted stipulates minimum wages that are too low, the judge must assess the wages provided for by other collective agreements in related sectors or refer to other criteria, such as the ISTAT index (Italian Statistics Institute) or the value of the unemployment allowance (the so-called NASpI).3Italian Supreme Court ruling no. 28320 of 10 October 2023. footnoteIs the role of collective bargaining for wage determination in crisis? That is a complex topic for another venue, but here it is necessary to remind companies that there are more than 992 collective bargaining agreements filed with CNEL (the National Council for Economy and Labour). 417° Report periodico dei Contratti Collettivi Nazionali di Lavoro vigenti depositati nell'Archivio CNEL (17th Periodic Report of National Collective Labour Agreements in force deposited in the CNEL archives), CNEL, 2023, available at https://www. cnel. it/Portals/0/CNEL/Re­ports/CCNL/17_re­port_CCNL_vi­gen­ti_gi­ugno_2023. pdf?ver=2023-07-11-131505-757ht­tps://www. cnel. it/Portals/0/CNEL/Re­ports/CCNL/17_re­port_CCNL_vi­gen­ti_gi­ugno_2023. pdf?ver=2023-07-11-131505-757foot­note On the one hand, the choice of NCBA is therefore a very difficult and delicate operation. On the other hand, it is very difficult to counter the “dumping contract” phenomenon (and this difficulty may help to understand the rationale behind the Supreme Court’s latest decisions).
08/04/2024
New obligation to apply withholding taxes on commissions received by agents...
With Circular letter no. 7/E of March 21, the Italian Revenue Agency provided some clarifications in relation to the new obligation to apply withholding taxes on commissions received by agents and other...
03/04/2024
EP Case Law in Brief: Long-felt want and inventive step
“Where the invention solves a technical problem which workers in the art have been attempting to solve for a long time, or otherwise fulfils a long-felt need, this may be regarded as an indication of...
03/04/2024
Real estate finance law in Italy
A. Mortgages 1. Can security be granted to a foreign lender? Yes. There is no restriction on the ownership of land by foreign parties in general or a foreign bank taking security over land.  2. Can...