In this regard, article 32, clause 16 and 17 of the Decree entails the amendment of articles 55 and 160 of the Industrial Property Code, in order to regulate the designation and election of Italy in international applications filed according to the Patent Cooperation Treaty, irrespective of the designation of the European Patent Organization to the granting of a European patent.
After the issue of an implementing decree by the Ministry of Economic Development, which is required for the fulfillment of the above-mentioned rules, Italy will stop belonging to the group of countries where the national phase is closed in favor of the regional European phase (according to the latter, it is possible to obtain a patent in Italy – through a PCT application – only with a European patent application designating Italy among its countries and the further filing in Italy of the translation of the granted European patent). Therefore, it will be possible to directly enter the national phase (as it already happens for example in Germany, UK, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey).
The deadline to entry into the national phase will be thirty months from the filing date, or the priority one, if claimed. The search report drafted in the international phase will replace to correspondent search made for the national application, without prejudice to the other rules about the examination included in the Industrial Property Code.
