The next MARQUES Meet the Judges event will take place at the Off/Off Theatre in Rome on 30 January 2025, from 13:00 to 17:00 CET.

Participants will include judges from the Italian courts, including the Supreme Court of Cassation, members of the Italian Board of Appeals, the EUIPO Boards of Appeal, guests from the Italian Patent and Trade Mark Office and industry representatives.

Topics to be covered include:

• proof of use requirements and the ensuing enforceability of earlier rights;
• the value of market surveys to prove reputation or acquired distinctiveness and the standard requirements that market surveys and other ex parte evidentiary materials should meet;
• the protection of well-known brands, and, in this framework, of heritage brands;
• unconventional trade marks (such as colours, shapes, slogans, product trade dress, sound and multi-media trade marks), in relation to market realities and brand owners’ needs, and the difficulties in obtaining registration of these; and
• the protection of patronymic trade marks

Full details of the programme and speakers will be announced soon.

The meeting will be held in Italian. It will be followed by a performance of a play (Two Man Play – an excerpt from The Trials of Oscar Wilde by Merlin Holland and John O’Connor, which is based on the 1895 libel trial of Oscar Wilde) and an aperitif.

Full details will be available on the MARQUES events page soon but in the meantime we encourage you to save the date!