Italian Supreme Court tackles Rubik's Cube CTM and establishes that Protection under the Italian Criminal Code for a CTM runs from Application Date

On 2 February 2010 (decision No 4217/10) the Italian Supreme Court issued a decision reinforcing the protection for CTM’s under the Italian criminal law, with a finding that protection of CTM’s under the Italian Criminal Code must be considered as commencing from the date of the application such that ‘counterfeiting’ of a CTM may also occur when trade mark is still in the process of being registered.