Italian Antitrust Authority launches an investigation for a possible agreement restricting competition through the Serie A football TV rights deal
With the press release published on July 8, 2021, the Italian Antitrust Authority (in Italian, “Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato”, the “AGCM”) announces the opening of an investigation with reference to certain clauses of the deal for the TV rights of Serie A football for a possible agreement restricting competition concluded between two well-known companies in the sector.
In particular, this deal could lead to significant restrictions of competition in the market of television services and the new means of access to them, through pay tv or internet platforms.
Therefore, the AGCM is evaluating the adoption of injunctive measures, in case of an effective restriction of the competition through unfair practises.
The Italian Supreme Court decision on damages for the unauthorised publication of celebrities’ photos
With decision no. 17217 of June 16, 2021, the Italian Supreme Court ruled on the damage compensation for the unauthorised publication of celebrities’ photos.
In particular, a celebrity may in any case exercise his or her right to his or her image either by not publishing photographs for as long as he or she deems necessary or by choosing not to economically exploit his or her personal data as this could potentially harm the protected good.
“Strategic guidelines of action on industrial property for the three-year period 2021-2023” adopted
Last 24 June, after the public consultation ended on May 31, 2021, the “Strategic guidelines of action on industrial property for the three-year period 2021-2023” were adopted and published on the website of the Italian Ministry for Economic Development and the Italian Patent and Trademark Office (in Italian, “Ufficio italiano marchi e brevetti”, “UIBM”).
The Strategic guidelines result from the European Commission’s invitation to formulate national strategies, addressing the following challenges:
- improving the IP protection system;
- encouraging the use of IP, in particular by SMEs;
- facilitating the access to patents and their knowledge;
- ensuring stricter enforcement of industrial property;
- strengthening Italy’s role at the international level.
Source: Ministry for Economic Development website
Italian Communications Guarantee Authority’s observatory: accesses to the landline network with FTTH technology exceed 2.1
On July 13, 2021, the Italian Communications Guarantee Authority (in Italian “Autorità per le garanzie nelle comunicazioni”, the “AGCOM”) released the Communications Observatory data, highlighting that at the end of March 2021, overall accesses to the landline network had increased by just under 140,000 units compared to the previous quarter, and by 450,000 on an annual basis.
In addition, the Observatory notes significant changes in the composition of the technologies used to provide the service and shows that accesses through technologies that allow qualitatively better performances have significantly increased, in particular those in FTTC technology (+7.11 million units), FTTH (+1.65 million) and FWA (+0.70 million).
Source: AGCOM official website
Guidelines for regulatory impact analysis in Italian Communications Guarantee Authority approved
With resolution no. 211/21/CONS, the AGCOM approved the paper entitled “Guidelines for regulatory impact analysis in the Italian Communications Guarantee Authority”.
In particular, the regulatory impact analysis (in Italian, analisi di impatto della regolamentazione, “AIR”) – that the so-called “independent authorities” are required to carry out – aims at contributing to the quality of regulatory activity with a significant impact on citizens, businesses and public administrations.
Source: AGCOM official website
New manifesto of the Italian Insurtech Association 2021-2022 published
Last May, 26, the Italian Insurtech Association (the “IIA”), an association for the digital development of the insurance industry, published its new manifesto 2021-2022, aimed at encouraging the digitalisation of the insurance sector.
In particular, the IIA outlined 13 key measures to speed up the digital transition of the insurance industry, including:
- the increase of investments value in Insurtech;
- the support of the national digital identity project;
- the measuring with the global context;
- the adaptation of the regulatory environment;
- the encouragement of the investments in start-ups and technology.
