We have extensively followed the saga around the Italian cultural heritage code, as evidenced by a series of blog posts on lawsuits involving commercial uses of Public Domain works in Italian collections (Galleria dell’Accademia Firenze v. GQ, Gallerie dell’Accademia di Venezia v. Ravensburger, and Uffizi v. Gaultier). In late September, a bottle of vinegar added […]
In Italy, the use of images of cultural heritage in the Public Domain is still subject to heated debate. This blog post provides an update on the situation, presenting a recently adopted ministerial decree, which facilitates the use of such images in scientific publications. While the decree is a step in the right direction, it […]
On June 18th, we hosted our first online salon in 2024 on the hollowing out of the Public Domain through cultural heritage laws with a particular focus on Italy. In recent years there have been a number of problematic court cases around the commercial reuse of Public Domain works held by Italian cultural heritage institutions. […]
Today, COMMUNIA is releasing Policy Paper #20 on the right to use Public Domain heritage (also available as a PDF file), in which we address the restrictions imposed by a number of Member States on the use of reproductions of Public Domain works. The cultural heritage laws of Bulgaria, France, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Slovenia […]
The implementation of Article 14 of the Copyright in the Digital Single Market Directive (CDSM Directive) in Italy raises a number of questions regarding the protection of the Public Domain. This article explores these questions by analysing the relationship between Article 14 of the CDSM Directive and the Italian Code of Cultural Heritage and Landscape […]
We certainly didn’t ask for this, but Italy appears to have made it its mission to show why our work at COMMUNIA is as relevant as ever: by launching an attack on the Public Domain. Since October last year, Italian courts have applied the country’s Cultural Heritage Code (hereinafter shortened to “the Code”) in a […]
