4.
Legislative power to reduce the Public Domain should be constrained.

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 […]

As the summer approaches, we are taking stock of the latest developments in copyright policy debates. The scene-stealer “Generative AI” is prompting a copyright comeback in the EU bubble, forcing everyone to take a position (including us). Yet the conversations that deserve the attention of copyright experts in the months to come are not limited […]

In our capacity as accredited observers of the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR), we are attending the 43th session of the Committee, which is currently taking place in Geneva (March 13-17, 2023). We made the following statement regarding the protection of broadcasting organisations (Agenda Item 5): COMMUNIA works to defend the […]

Last Friday, news broke of the order taken by the court of first instance of Venice on a precautionary judgement served by Gallerie dell’Accademia di Venezia, a public museum under the Italian Ministry of Culture. At stake: a Ravensburger puzzle representing the famous 1490s drawing Vitruvian Man by Italian Renaissance genius Leonardo da Vinci. The […]

Two weeks ago, the Uffizi Gallery sent ripples through the open community by suing French fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier for using Sandro Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus (1483) — which is on display in the Uffizi — in a clothing collection. Botticelli’s death in 1510 preceded the birth of copyright by centuries and his […]