Guido Noto La Diega

Patents on Computer-Related Inventions in India

In India, sec. 3(k) of the Patents Act 1970 clearly excludes the patentability of computer programmes per se. For many years, the regime of computer-implemented inventions has been unclear, until the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks (the Indian homologous of the Intellectual Property Office) issued its Guidelines on the examination of computer-related inventions. Notably, this gave rise the civil society’s protests; indeed, there was the fear that the government was surreptisciously allowing the patentability of computer programmes per se. Therefore, the guidelines have been withdrawn and recently a new version has been published. It openly reaffirms the exclusion of the software patents and introduces a three-step test to determine the applicability of sec. 3(k) of the Patents Act to computer-related inventions. This opinion focuses the new guidance, by placing it in the context of the leading role of India in the technological and social developments revolving around the Internet of Things.

Equilibrio Fra Poteri E Libertà 'Dai' Trattati in Diritto Dell'Unione Europea E Diritto Internazionale (Balance of Power and Freedom 'from' the Treaties in European and International Law)

Italian Abstract: La relazione, dopo aver dato conto dellevoluzione dei rapporti di potere allinterno dellUnione (fra Istituzioni, fra UE e Stati membri, con cenni alla c.d. troika), si concentra sulla libertà dai trattati, intesa principalmente come possibilità di rinegoziarli e recederne, senza ignorare una riflessione sulla possibilità di dichiarare lincostituzionalità della legge di esecuzione (teoria dei controlimiti) e sulle cause di invalidità ed estinzione dei trattati. Occorre tenere a mente che il discorso va differenziato a seconda che si tratti dei Trattati istitutivi (il Trattato sul Funzionamento dellUnione Europea e il Trattato sullUnione Europea), disciplinati dalle speciali regole eurunioniste, oppure dei recenti trattati di vincolo economico-finanziario quali il fiscal compact e lESM, European Stability Mechanism (e, un domani, il TTIP, Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership), regolati dalla Convenzione di Vienna sul diritto dei trattati del 1969. Lautore ritiene che snellire le procedure di produzione del diritto europeo e credere nellUnione sia lunico modo per sottrarre potere alla troika e per poter dialogare con i potenti attori del mercato globale. English Abstract: After having dealt with the evolution of the relations of power within the European Union (between the Institutions, EU/Member States and troika), the author focuses on what he calls freedom from the treaties, understood as the possibility to renegotiate them and to withdraw. Freedom from the treaties means also the so-called theory of the counter-limitations developed by the Italian Constitutional Court, that reserves its right to declare the unconstitutionality of the law of execution of the European treaties. Freedom from the treaties, besides, means also to check if the treaties are void or if it occurs a cause the extinguishes them. What has to be clear is that there are two different disciplines: one for the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and for the Treaty on the European Union (TEU), the other one for the recent economic treaties such as the so-called fiscal compact, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) and, tomorrow, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP, now negotiated between EU and USA). The first ones follow the special rule of the art. 48 TEU, the second ones the general (and way simpler) rules of the Vienna Convention on the Law of the Treaties. The author believes that we have to simplify the procedures of production of the European law and to firmly invest in the idea of Europe in order to take the troika its power away and to be able to dialogue with the strong actor of the global market.

Le Fondazioni E La Privatizzazione Dell'Università: Il Caso Italiano (Foundations and Privatization of Universities: The Italian Case)

English Abstract: The Italian way to privatize Universities. Italian Abstract: La via italiana per privatizzare le Università tramite le fondazioni.