IT - HL Display AB vs. Synco spa

Milan court 20 July 2010 - 20 July 2010 and Milan court 23 September 2010 - 24 November 2010, HL Display AB vs. Synco spa
 
Both decisions related to a request for preliminary injunction based on two European patents, relating to mounting systems for label holders and to a profile moulding for shop shelves. One of defendant's arguments was that the sales of the products in dispute had been known to plaintiff for several years, so that there was really no urgency justifying a preliminary injunction. Plaintiff had replied that an opposition was previously pending against one of the patents, so that caution had suggested to await the end of the opposition procedure. Defendant counterreplied that the Italian law admits precautionary proceedings even when a patent application is still pending, so that nothing would have barred plaintiff from taking action long before. If plaintiff had decided to wait due to the uncertainty of the opposition procedure, that evidently meant that the problem was not sufficiently serious or urgent.