FAQ

Patents may be granted to inventions in any technical field that are new, involve an inventive step, and are capable of industrial application.

The granting of a patent is therefore subject to passing an examination by the Patent Office regarding these requirements, in addition to the additional requirements of legality, clarity, and adequacy of description.

Therefore, filing a patent application does not guarantee its granting: the Patent Office may reject the application for lack of one or more requirements, regardless of the efforts expended by the patentee.

An invention is considered new if it is not included in the prior art. The prior art consists of everything that has been made accessible to the public in Italy or abroad before the filing date of the patent application, in any language, through a written or oral description, drawings, use, or any other means. Therefore, at the filing date of the patent application, the invention must be secret. The presentation of the invention to the public, for example at a trade fair, online, in a magazine or brochure, etc., would render a subsequent patent application filed for the same invention non-new, even if filed by the same inventor.

It is therefore essential to keep the invention secret until the filing date of the corresponding patent application.

An invention is considered to involve an inventive step if, to a person skilled in the art, it is not evident from the prior art, or if it is not a trivial combination of individually known characteristics.

For example, if the invention is based on the combination of features A+B, such a combination would lack the inventive step compared to two prior art documents describing one feature A and the other feature B, if such a combination is obvious to those skilled in the art.

The invention must be described clearly and completely enough for anyone skilled in the art to be able to implement it.

The exclusive right granted to the patent holder constitutes an exception to the competitive, free-market economic regime we live in.

The legislator grants a "fixed-term" exclusive right (up to 20 years) in exchange for technical information, that is, a clear and thorough description of the invention; upon the patent's expiration, the information contained therein must be sufficient to ensure that the invention can be reproduced by third parties and widely disseminated, to the benefit of the community.

For practical examples, consider generic drugs, which include active ingredients for which the patent has expired. The manufacturer of a generic drug must be able to reproduce the active ingredient based on the description provided in the expired patent and without having to resort to new research or testing.

The requirement of legality, somewhat tied to ethics, is considered mostly for inventions in the biotechnology sector, almost never for mechanical inventions. In Italy, a patent application for an electric chair would likely be rejected, as would an invention aimed at the genetic selection of human embryos.

The following cannot be patented:

• scientific discoveries, theories, and mathematical methods;
• plans, principles, and methods for intellectual activities, games, and commercial activities, and software (intended as source code, while algorithms intended as processes/methods, such as compression algorithms, or system architecture, such as AI, are patentable;
• presentations of information;
• methods for the surgical or therapeutic treatment of the human or animal body, and diagnostic methods applied to the human or animal body;
• plant varieties and animal breeds and essentially biological processes for the production of animals or plants, including new plant varieties for which the invention consists exclusively in the genetic modification of another plant variety, even if said modification is the result of a genetic engineering process.

As long as the patent application has not been granted, the corresponding product may be written "patent application filed" (in English: patent pending); the term "patented" (patent granted) can only be used after the patent has actually been granted by the patent office.

In some cases, patents can (and must) be recognized as intangible assets. Industrial property titles can be sold or licensed. In these circumstances, an economic valuation of the intellectual property portfolio is required. Different economic valuation methods are applied based on the type of titles being valued, the purpose of the valuation, and other parameters. You can learn more about the economic valuation of patents here.

Patent contents:

• title
• description
• claims
• abstract
• drawings

To best protect an invention, many factors must be considered, including territorial jurisdiction. Since patents grant protection to an invention in a specific territory, it is necessary to carefully choose the territories in which you wish to obtain protection.

How to obtain an Italian patent?
How to obtain a European patent?
How to obtain an international patent?

In each country where an application has been filed or a patent has been validated, an annual fee must be paid to maintain the patent. The annual fee, or annuity for short, serves to maintain the patent application and then the patent itself until its maximum term (20 years from filing for patents for inventions). For a patent with unitary effect (unitary patent), a single annual fee is payable to the European Patent Office (EPO) for all participating jurisdictions (May 17, 2026). The fees to be paid vary based on the type of protection chosen and the countries where protection is requested.

While it is theoretically possible to register a trademark in all product classes, it is recommended to identify the relevant classes of goods and services. Carefully selecting classes allows you to limit potential objections/oppositions from third parties to trademark registration in certain classes. The emergence of objections or oppositions requires a response to the examiner and, therefore, may lead to additional registration costs.

To be validly registered – and used – a trademark must meet certain requirements: novelty, distinctiveness, and legality.

The owner of a trademark enjoys exclusive rights and can prohibit third parties from using a sign identical or similar to theirs for similar products and/or services. In Italy and abroad, it is possible to take administrative action to prevent a third party from registering a trademark identical or similar to their own through opposition proceedings.

A word trademark consists of alphanumeric combinations and is protected for its "content," regardless of the graphics used.

A figurative trademark consists of alphanumeric combinations created with specific graphics and logos.

A shape trademark consists of the shape of the product or its packaging.

Other types of trademarks also exist, such as collective trademarks or three-dimensional trademarks. To learn more about trademark types, you can consult the dedicated page here for trademark types and here for three-dimensional trademarks and designs.

Names of people other than those of the person requesting registration may be registered as trademarks, provided their use does not damage the reputation, credit, or dignity of the person entitled to bear such names. The Italian Patent and Trademark Office, however, reserves the right to require the consent of the rightful owner for registration.

If well-known, the following may be registered as trademarks only by the rightful owner, or with their consent: personal names, signs used in the artistic, literary, scientific, political, or sporting fields, the names and acronyms of events, and those of non-profit organizations and associations, as well as their characteristic emblems.