Food & Beverage
Food & Beverage is one of the most representative sectors of the Italian economy, and one in which product, technology, communication and brand identity are most closely intertwined along the entire supply chain. LGV Avvocati assists food industry operators, beer and beverage producers and wine companies, addressing their needs with a practical understanding of the market dynamics specific to the sector. In this sector, the firm’s work ranges from assessing patent protection for product and process innovations to the registration and management of trademark portfolios, and from oppositions against the registration of conflicting third-party trademarks to judicial and out-of-court proceedings in defence of distinctive signs. Alongside the protection of rights, the firm’s assistance also extends to advisory work, covering the compliance of labels with consumer information rules and the preventive clearance of product names, with particular attention to the use of terms evoking the characteristics or origin of the product in light of the rules on designations of origin, geographical indications and traditional terms. The result is assistance that follows the product throughout its life cycle: from the protection of innovation to regulatory compliance, and from market launch to the building and defence of its distinctive identity.
Significant experience
- LGV Avvocati assisted the owner of a trademark in the beer sector in proceedings to defend the sign against a leading international operator. The proceedings required an in-depth reconstruction of market usage and practices, together with an analysis of the technologies and processes used in the production of the various types of beer.
- The firm protects trademarks of major importance in the beverage sector and, on behalf of their owners, has handled particularly complex judicial and out-of-court proceedings.
- For companies in the wine sector, LGV Avvocati manages trademark portfolios and provides preventive advice on the choice of product names, assessing in particular whether terms and expressions recalling the characteristics or origin of the wine may be used, and verifying their compatibility with the applicable legislation. For the same clients, the firm has filed numerous oppositions against the registration of third-party trademarks potentially conflicting with their rights.
- In the beverage segment, LGV Avvocati reviewed the compliance of labels intended for the Italian market, examining the full range of information required by law: from the actual alcoholic strength by volume to the warnings and information addressed to specific categories of consumers.
- On the innovation side, the firm assessed the patent protection available for a bread-making process, analysing its technical features and verifying whether the requirements for protection were met.