The article “Image rights, creativity and videogames” is out!
We are happy to announce that the article “Image rights, creativity and videogames” by Insight has been published in the last issue of the Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice.
The article proposes an innovative test to assess the level of risk associated with using, without authorization, a real-life person’s image in a videogame.
The article is available here.
Privacy & Data Protection News – GDPR and the foreign diplomatic and consular representations
Have you ever wondered if the processing of personal data of non-EU citizens carried out by the foreign representations based in Italy falls or not within the scope of the GDPR?
If you wish to know more about this topic, you can read the article “Personal data without an EU "passport", GDPR to the diplomatic challenge” by Nicolò Rappa published on Agendadigitale.eu.
In the article you will find not only an answer to the question at issue but also a detailed analysis and practical examples of the criteria to be adopted in order to identify the territorial scope of the GDPR.
The question that is the subject of this contribution introduces a topic that is not much debated but, of course, of great importance if only we consider the enormous amount of personal data that foreign diplomatic-consular representations based in Italy process every day in the exercise of their functions. As is well known, these representations not only constitute a reference point for non-EU citizens living in Italy, but also provide a multitude of useful services for their proper integration in our country and to maintain relations between the State to which these citizens belong and Italy (...).
You can read the full article here (in Italian).
Insight Studio Legale will participate even this year to the event "Invest Korea Week" that will be held in Seoul from 5 to 7 November 2019
From November 5 to 7, 2019 it will take place in Seoul, at the Grand Inter-Continental Hotel Seoul Parnas, the Invest Week Korea 2019 (IKW), a meeting organized by Kotra (Korea Trade Center) and the Korean Ministry of Economy, Industry and Energy (South Korea), which this year reaches its 15th edition.
This is a very worthwhile appointment for foreign companies as it allows them to have a first direct approach to the Korean market and to know the potential investment opportunities that it offers.
During the event there will be several workshops and speeches by leading representatives of the Korean government who will take the opportunity to provide foreign companies with an overview of the Korean market.
On the day being dedicated to the meetings between foreign and Korean companies, Insight Studio Legale will represent some Italian companies specialized in the field of design and industrial machinery, interested in building business relationships with South Korean partners.
Save the date. Invest Korea Week: “Connect Korea, Connect Global” (www.investkoreaweek.kr).
Insight Studio Legale 법무법인 teaches "Media Law" at the University Link Campus University in Rome
The Link Campus University of Rome has entrusted Insight team with the teaching of the subject "Media Law", which attributes no. 12 credits and was introduced for the first time this year as part of the degree course named "Innovative Technologies for Digital Communication" (L-20) organized by the abovementioned University.
The degree course, which started on Monday 28 October 2019, aims to provide the students with the basics of intellectual property rights and to offer an overview of the rules governing the media industry in Italy, with a particular focus on the video game industry and esports.
In particular, Insight will deal with the teaching of the issues related to the media, video games and esports, the general principles of civil and corporate law, the intellectual and industrial property law, the Privacy & Data Protection law and the cybersecurity law.
For our firm, this is an important opportunity to collaborate with a leading Italian university such as Link Campus University, with which we share, in addition to a strong international vocation, a pronounced focus on the world of media and technological innovation that inspires our services.
The preliminary contract sometimes "survives" the final contract, according to the Court of Milan in a very recent case followed by Insight Studio Legale
The Milan Judges, with a non-definitive sentence, accepted the argument made by Insight Studio Legale according to which the preliminary contract for the acquisition of company quotas may still produce binding legal effects between the parties, if the circumstances of the case are such as to ensure the autonomy of the preliminary agreement from the subsequent final agreement.
The case in question concerned the acquisition by a Korean company of quotaholdings in a Romanian company which owns a photovoltaic plant located in Romania.
As part of this acquisition, the parties first entered into a "preliminary" contract governed by Italian law which provided for the competence of the Court of Milan in case of any dispute related to the agreement. Subsequently, the final acquisition contract was signed, which was instead governed by Romanian law and provided for arbitration in Milan for the settlement of possible disputes.
Following the signing of the final contract, the Korean buyer discovered that the guarantees issued in relation to the acquired Romanian company, as well as the photovoltaic plant owned by the latter, had been totally disregarded by the sellers.
For this reason, the Korean buyer and the purchased Romanian company together brought a civil action for damages before the Court of Milan against the sellers based on the preliminary contract, claiming that a series of guarantees contained therein had been violated by the sellers.
The defendant sellers joined the proceedings and objected, among other things, that the Italian courts lacked jurisdiction, that the Romanian courts were instead endowed with such jurisdiction and that the Court of Milan lacked competence. The sellers founded their arguments on the point that the final contract should supersede the effects of the preliminary agreement and that the final contract was therefore the only agreement capable of binding and producing effects on the parties, also with respect to the applicability of Romanian law.
In essence, the defendants argued that the provisions of the preliminary contract could not produce any effects given the occurred signing of the final contract. Consequently, they argued, not even the provisions of the preliminary contract relating to jurisdiction of the Italian courts could be applied.
The argument of the claimants, on the other hand, was that the preliminary agreement should necessarily continue to produce its effects because it contained guarantees that had not been included in the final agreement and such guarantees were, moreover, given by persons who did not sign the final contract.
In particular, the claimants argued that only the preliminary contract (and not the final one) contained guarantees that could protect the purchaser upon discovery – after the sale of the quotas – of circumstances that were not known nor could be known by the buyers. Furthermore, the verification of the exact fulfilment of these guarantees had to take place after the signing of the final contract, which was a circumstance that imposed a continuing effect of such guarantees even after the signing of the final agreement.
It was also pointed out by the claimants that these guarantees had been given by the holders of the company quotas, who had not signed the final contract for the sale of such quotas; it was precisely this additional circumstance that made a further difference, this time from a subjective point of view, between the contents of the preliminary and final contracts.
In this Firm’s opinion, the preliminary contract already provided for its survival with respect to the final contract, given that the signatories of both preliminary and final agreements did not coincide perfectly and that the obligations undertaken by the sellers and guarantors with the preliminary contract (which were later violated) were not recalled in the final agreement. Indeed, to state otherwise - i.e. to argue that the final contract superseded the prior preliminary contract - would have entailed the disappearance of a series of guarantees which were contained only in the preliminary agreement, as well as an unjustified and automatic release of the guarantors from their obligations by virtue of the mere fact of having signed the final contract.
The Court of Milan accepted the Firm’s arguments and rejected all preliminary exceptions raised by the defendants, stating that "the private agreement dated 2 April 2015 [i.e. the preliminary contract] is the only agreement reached between all the parties of these proceedings... Therefore, even though the final contract may have been concluded, the preliminary contract remains the only agreement that binds all the parties involved, and the content of such agreement cannot be considered superseded by the final contract ... It must be concluded that in relation to the claims that have been made, and which are based on the obligations assumed by the defendants with the signing of the preliminary contract for the transfer of quotas ... the jurisdiction of the Court of Milan exists by virtue of the express provision of Article 5.3 of said preliminary contract, which continues to maintain its full effect among all the parties present within this dispute".
The Court's decision is noteworthy because it runs counter to a well-established case law according to which the final contract normally supersedes the provisions contained in the preliminary agreement which, consequently, no longer binds the parties from the date of signing of the final agreement.
The case illustrated here therefore represents the development of a minority opinion that also gives protection to those clauses which have been prepared and drafted in such a way as to survive and continue to produce their effects despite the signing of a subsequent final agreement.
The article “Esports in Italy an industry ready to take off (or still in search of its regulatory soul)?" has been published in the last issue of Interactive Entertainment Law Review
We are enthusiast to announce that the last issue of Interactive Entertainment Law Review including Insight’s article on Esports, is out and that the article is available to download for free here.
If you are interested in the Italian Esports ecosystem and would like to know our take on the current legal and regulatory framework applicable to competitive videogaming in Italy and how its shortcomings might be slowing down the local industry's take off, have a look at the article and, if you wish, send us your comments!
Privacy & Data Protection News - The data breach notification
Are you aware of how to handle a data breach within your company? Do you know how to carry out a data breach notification to the competent Authority?
If you wish to know more about this topic, you can read the article “Data breach notification: tips and tools for a real GDPR compliance” by Nicolò Rappa published on Cybersecurity360.it.
In the article you will find a well-thought-out guide to a real GDPR compliance!
The notification of a data breach acquires value as part of a general risk management approach that the data controller is required to take in the context of his data processing activities. This notification allows the data controller, often in collaboration with the Authority, to become fully aware of the violation and, consequently, to carefully assess the need to communicate, or not, the violation also to the natural persons concerned, in accordance with the provisions of the GDPR (…).
You can read the full article here (in Italian).
Insight welcomes Nicolò!
Our team continue to grow…we are excited to announce that Nicolò Rappa is joining our team as Junior Associate. The focus of his practice is on Privacy/Data Protection and Intellectual property. After working within the data protection team of two important law firms based in Milan, Nicolò has chosen to join Insight Studio Legale, focusing on issues related to Cyberlaw and Data Protection as well as to Intellectual Property Law.
As part of his professional experience, Nicolò has advised several Italian and international companies in relation to their GDPR compliance and contributed to the development of a European project aimed at improving the knowledge of privacy laws in the EU market. He has participated as a speaker in privacy training courses for Italian and international companies and he is also co-author of two privacy commentaries on EU Regulation 679/2016 and Italian Privacy Code.
For his complete profile click here.
Welcome on board Nicolò!
More Than Just a Game – Maastricht
Insight was in Maastricht for the Maastricht’s edition of the MTJG series of conferences, where he was invited together with Professor Anselm Kamperman Sanders and Thomas Graf to hold a panel on competition law in the video game industry and platform dominance. As usual, the conference was most interesting and it was a great chance to keep up to date with the latest legal developments of the videogames industry worldwide.
If you missed the conference have a look at IPKAT summary of the key point touched upon by the conference speakers, which is available here.
However, check the MTJG website here to keep up to date with future events.
Insight talked about IP and Art Digitalization at Maxxi’s Digital Think-in Lab
Insight held a lesson on intellectual property issues in relation to art digitalization at the Digital Think-in Lab organized by Maxxi National Museum of XXI century’s arts (click here for the course curriculum). It was great to talk about legal issues surrounding new art’s digital developing prospects, also exploring some of the most recent art digitalization projects, and answer practical questions coming from the art practitioners participating at the think-in. It was even better to do that in the Maxxi Museum beautiful setting.