The National Regional Group of Italy Celebrates Its 100th anniversary

The Italian presence in AIPPI belongs to the very early stages of the association’s birth: when the association was founded in 1897, a number of eminent Italians such as professor Moise Amar, lawyer Edoardo Bosio and engineer Carlo Barzanò were  among the ‘founding fathers’.

At the first congress of AIPPI, held in Vienna in 1897, 13 Italians participated, which became 41 the following year. Already in the association’s early years we have an Italian president, lawyer Edoardo Bosio. In Turin in 1902, the association’s first congress was held on Italian soil, in the historic and beautiful palace of Carignano, seat of the first Italian Parliament. Four years later, in 1906, the second Italian congress of AIPPI was held, this time in Milan, under the presidency of Giovanni Silvestri, one of the greatest entrepreneurs in Italy at the time, founder of ‘Officine Meccaniche’, which was to become a FIAT subsidiary.

AIPPI’s members in those years included many leading Italian companies, such as Lanificio Rossi, Fratelli Branca, Cinzano & C., Pirelli & C., and others (the very first step of the famous “Made in Italy”).

After the suspension of AIPPI’s activities due to the First World War, the Italian Group was also formally created in 1925 with the reconstitution of the association. In 1928, the first post-war international congress held on Italian soil, in Rome, was under the presidency of AIPPI International by prince Piero Ginori Conti, a well-known Italian businessman and politician. Other prominent Italian personalities in those years were engineer Giovanni Battista Zanardo, of the Barzanò e Zanardo firm, and professor Mario Ghiron, at the time vice-president of AIPPI Gruppo Italiano, who was among the first to hold a university course on industrial law in Italy.

The presidents of AIPPI Italian Group between the two world wars were:

• engineer Giovanni Battista Zanardo (1925-1928);
• prince Piero Ginori Conti (1928-1932);
• engineer Lorenzo Allevi (1932-1934);
• lawyer Gino Olivetti (1934-1938)

These were prominent personalities, in particular Gino Olivetti is well known, both as a lawyer and as an economist and politician, and he was also the founder of Confindustria (Italian Industry Trade Union), the Green Cross of Turin and Juventus. Among the illustrious members of AIPPI’s Italian Group in those years – just to name a few – are engineer Giovanni Battista Caproni, founder of the company of the same name in the aeronautics sector, lawyers Enrico and Attilio Luzzatto, as well as well-known companies such as FIAT, Lancia and Carlo Erba.

After a period of suspension due to World War II, the association resumed activities in 1947. In Italy, the presidents were:

• lawyer Luigi Baiamonti (between 1947 and 1952);
• lawyer Mario Braschi (1952 to 1961);
• lawyer Mario Luzzati (from 1961 to 1970);
• professor Luigi Sordelli (1971 to 1993);
• lawyer Giovanni Pellegrino (from 1993 to 2002):
• professor Lawyer Luigi Carlo Ubertazzi (from 2003 to 2014).

Let us recall in particular the long presidency of Luigi Sordelli, who was a well-known lawyer and academic, most recently professor emeritus at the University of Padua; the presidency of Giovanni Pellegrino, who sadly passed away recently and who, until his death, was an honorary member of the Italian Group, remembered with an ‘Award of Merit’ by AIPPI International; the presidency of Luigi Carlo Ubertazzi, one of the major architects of the development of the Italian Group, which became one of the most numerous worldwide in the context of AIPPI (today it is the fourth worldwide).

In Italy at the time the events held were the EXCO in Sirmione in 1955; the ‘Council of Presidents’ meeting in Milan in 1984; the EXCO in Sorrento in 2000.

In more recent years, after the presidency of Luigi Carlo Ubertazzi, Renata Righetti Pelosi took over as president (2014-2017), and she became the first woman president of AIPPI at an international level. During her term of office, the last Italian world congress was organized and held in Milan in 2016, which proved to be a great success, also due to the wonderful locations used for the events (including La Scala Theatre and the Brera Academy). Immediately after Renata Righetti, lawyer Gualtiero Dragotti became president (2017-2020). Gualtiero Dragotti, together with lawyer Cristiano Bacchini, was very dedicated to realising the Unified Patent Court project. In 2020, lawyer Paolina Testa took over the presidency, and she found herself dealing – very well – with the pandemic period, which was particularly complicated for associations such as AIPPI. The association basically had to “reinvent itself” by transforming its meeting and networking events into online events (we even had online aperitifs at the time…, and actually enjoyed them!). Since 2023 Simona Lavagnini is President, members of the President’s Council are Stefano Vatti (Vice-President), Francesca Morri (Secretary), Alessandro Masetti Zannini de Concina (Treasury Director),  Chiara Pappalardo (Vice-Secretary). On the Executive Committee are Raffaella Arista, Antonio Bana, Stefania Bergia, Jacopo De Benedetti, Fabio Ghiretti, Bianca Manuela Gutierrez, Elena Marietti, Odra Papaleo, Mario Pisapia, Alessandro Spina, Adriano Sponzilli. The board of auditors includes Ottavia Raffaelli, Leonardo Seri, Andrea Vestita.

Over the past two years, the Italian Group has almost reached 600 members; it continues to have stable study groups on patents (Pres. Stefania Bergia), trademarks (Pres. Stefano Vatti), copyright (Pres. Alessandro Cogo), advertising (Pres. Elena Carpani), design (Pres. Fabrizio Sanna) and IP criminal law (Pres. Francesco Mucciarelli), as well as a Youth Group (Pres. Alessandro Bura and Magalì Contardi), an Education Group (Pres. Adriano Sponzilli) and an Events Organisation and Sponsorship Management Group (Pres. Antonio Bana). We recently set up a new Group dedicated to In-House (Pres. Alessandro Spina). Over the years, some local Groups were set up and worked very well, in particular in Turin – NorthWest Coord. Odra Papaleo; Bologna Coord. Adriano Sponzilli; Florence Coord. Donato Nitti; Naples Coord. Mario Pisapia; Rome Coord. Raffaella Arista; Brescia Coord. Elena Martini.

In March 2023, when activities resumed after the Pandemic, the Italian Group organised together with the French Group and the Spanish Group the Trilateral event in Venice, which was held in conjunction with the first AIPPI Spring Meeting and was indeed a big success. The Group always participates in large numbers and cohesively in international events as it did in the last congresses held in Istanbul and Hang Zhou in September 2023 and October 2024. The Group was also particularly active in promoting the Italian role in the UPC. Activities intensified after the Brexit, when the Group pushed for the assignment of the third central division in Milan (a successful initiative, with AIPPI’s official participation in the inauguration of the Milan office in July 2024).

On a national level, the Group is also very active, both in terms of training and professional updating of its members and in terms of disseminating the culture of Intellectual Property, also in collaboration with the institutions. To limit ourselves to last year, the Group organised several in-person events and webinars, of which it is worth mentioning the Conference following the Members’ Meeting held on 7 February 2024 in the prestigious Sala Napoleonica of the University of Milan, which was sold out to hear the latest developments in the field of designs, patents and copyright, speakers from the Academy, Industry, Regulatory Authorities (Privacy Guarantor), EUIPO, WIPO and UPC, as well as lawyers, IP consultants and Judges from the Specialised Sections.

The year 2025 also promises to be very rich: in addition to the usual activities (members’ assembly with downstream conference, training events also online, publications and convivial moments) the Group will celebrate the centenary of its foundation. We wish the other national Groups – as old as ours or more recent – to continue to make our Association alive and beautiful, and look forward to celebrating together at the next Yokohama Congress in September 2025!