The Italian Council of State upholds a ruling by the Regional Court of Lazio which held that payments to intellectual property rights holders, in this case, does not constitute State aid because the payments were not made using State resources (Nokia Italia)

On 18 February 2015, the Council of State issued a non-final decision in which it partially rejected the appeals against a TAR Lazio decision brought by several companies that produce and sell personal computers, recorders, storage media, mobile telephones, and cameras. The Council of State decision also stayed the proceedings and referred certain questions to the Court of Justice. [1] However, this chapter examines only the rejection of the applicants’ claims concerning State aid law. Background & facts of the case The applicants brought annulment actions concerning the Ministerial Decree of 30 December 2009 (“Decree”) issued by the Italian Ministry of cultural assets and activities and