Italian highways company
Società Autostrade said Tuesday that it will replace devises for
an electronic speed-monitoring system on its network after a
ruling that it had breached the patent of a small Tuscan firm by
using them.
A Rome court ordered Società Autostrade to remove the devices
and destroy them due to a breach of the patent filed by the
Craft firm of Greve in Chianti in case that started in 2006.
The judges also ordered the company to pay Craft 500 euros
for every day it fails to apply the ruling.
Società Autostrade said the devices will not be immediately
removed, but phased out, adding that it would appeal to the
supreme Court of Cassation against the sentence.
It said it would pay the penalties for failing to immediately
remove the devices in order to keep the current system active
while it replaces them, saying this should take three weeks.
It said it had decided to do so "to avoid the cancellation
of the benefits of the Tutor (device), which has reduced the
number of deaths on the motorway network by 70%".
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