ITALY Law and Practice Contributed by: Daniela Ampollini, Luca Pellicciari, Elena Mannini and Andrea Beltrame, Trevisan & Cuonzo
to counter-argue. The decision issued by the panel is final and cannot be further appealed. On the other hand, the term for appealing a first- instance judgment is twofold: • where the winning party serves the judgment on the losing party, the appeal must be filed within 30 days from said service (the so- called short appeal time limit); or • in the absence of any service of the judgment within six months from the issue of the first- instance judgment (the so-called long appeal time limit). Unlike appeals against preliminary orders, main appeal proceedings are instituted by the ser - vice of the writ of summons and the statement of appeal on the other parties. Within ten days of such a service, the writ of summons and the relevant evidence must be filed in court. The other parties may file an interlocutory appeal or a statement of defence, along with the relevant evidence, within 20 days before the first case conference. The filing of the appeal does not stay the exe - cution of the first instance decision, which is always immediately enforceable. However, when serious and grounded reasons exist, also relat - ing to the possibility of insolvency of one of the parties, the Court of Appeal may stay the exe - cution of the appealed first instance decision, with or without ordering the posting of a bond. In addition, appeals are subject to preliminary scrutiny by the competent Court of Appeal on the point of compliance with the relevant pro - cedural requirements, inadmissibility or mani - fest unfoundedness. Legislative Decree No 149 of 10 October 2022 amended said preliminary scrutiny, and Article 350bis of the Italian Civil Procedural Code now provides for a simplified
procedure to be followed when the appeal is considered inadmissible, manifestly unfounded or, on the contrary, manifestly founded, or when the appeal is deemed of minor complexity or urgent. The panel carries out a revision on the points of facts and law of the parts and points of the appealed decision that the parties have chal - lenged in their briefs. The parties are not allowed to bring evidence or documents additional to those already filed in the first instance proceed - ings, except in the case of new (ie, supervened) documents or documents that were not filed within the specific deadlines for reasons that are not imputable to the parties. In these two latter cases, the court may authorise the filing of new documents. Appeal proceedings are generally shorter than first-instance preliminary proceedings, usually lasting one to two years, and Courts of Appeal do not usually reopen the technical discussion unless absolutely necessary. The relevant injunction is automatically lifted if a preliminary or final injunction decision is overturned on appeal or the patent is revoked. Unlike in other European jurisdictions, there is no automatic liability for the petitioner where the PI is granted and subsequently lifted following a finding of invalidity/non-infringement. Liability for the petitioner is only found if it can be demon - strated that the latter has taken legal action out of due diligence. As far as the writers are aware, liabilities were only found in exceptional cases of negligence and bad faith. 7.2 Appeal Court(s) Arbiter Patent litigation appeals are heard and decided by a panel of three judges (comprising a rappor - teur judge and a chairman). In case of appeals
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