Activity Areas

Competition and Advertising

intellectual-property

UNFAIR COMPETITION

The desire to find commercial shortcuts often leads competitors to adopt practices that do not conform to the accepted rules of fair competition. Such practices may include parasitism, deceptiveness, denigration, boycott, etc.


 

Moreover, diversion of employees may take place, especially with regard to those who carry confidential information. Yet another point that emerges in this sector is the harmful divulgation of information that is either untruthful or intentionally left incomplete. Misappropriation is another issue, and one that often intertwines with parasitism (as those cases in which a competitor uses identical modes of communication used by another competitor). Equally, it often happens that competitors claim possession of certifications that are untruthful or that in any event are unconfirmed by the regulations applicable to the relevant sector.

Over the years LGV has dealt with these and many other issues involving unfair competition, mostly in litigation, but also in a non-contentious context (for example, preliminary due diligence activities undertaken before the hiring of collaborators in high ranking positions who, as a result of their role and/or knowledge they possess, could provide the basis for infringements of unfair competition and other types of norms).



ADVERTISING AND PERSONALITY RIGHTS

The professionals at LGV manage all phases of development of commercial communications. Thus, the firm provides assistance in the pre-launch phase of commercial communication (from the clearance of advertising campaigns, to the evaluation of other types of commercial informative reports, or press releases, commercial information, etc.).


 

The firm has also dealt extensively with controversies involving deceitful or comparative advertising, as well as cases pertaining to editorial promotions and product placement, etc. In this sector LGV has represented its clients both offensively and defensively before all competent bodies.

LGV also has significant experience in the field of personality rights. The professionals at the firm have dealt with cases of unauthorized exploitation – carried out by different means – of images of more or less famous individuals and the negotiation of contracts for the use of rights connected to the image and/or name of an individual, with respect to various types of media and uses.



ANTITRUST

LGV provides consultancy in antitrust law matters, particularly with regard to preventive checks of the antitrust effects which various types of contracts may have.


 

Antitrust issues often arise in parallel with those pertaining to IP as seen, for example, in technology transfer agreements and the licensing of patents considered essential to technology standards (FRAND licenses). These are instances where an abuse of a dominant position may be found. Free licenses or the cross licensing of patents and of other intellectual property rights should also be carefully examined from an antitrust standpoint, as there is the possibility of detecting unlawful cartels in those types of arrangements. Issues relating to distribution are equally important, and cautiousness is required in order to avert the possibility that distribution contracts of various kinds may result in the creation of prohibited vertical agreements. LGV also assists its clients in the merging and/or acquisition of corporate shares and advises on the correlated repercussions these transactions may have under antitrust law.


PRODUCT LIABILITY

A current topic concerns product liability, both B2B and B2C.


 

In this field LGV operates extra-judicially by means of contractual arrangements created for the purpose of mitigating the relevant risks as much as possible, and via regulations concerning suppliers of raw materials, semi-finished products, etc. LGV also carries out checks of insurance contracts, another very important issue in this field. Moreover, the firm engages in litigation in product liability cases and has assisted clients in disputes involving products devised for professional uses.

 

torno su