COPYRIGHT | The Italian Supreme Court on copyright protection for design exhibitions

On 29 April 2024, the Italian Supreme Court handed down its Order No. 11413/2024 regarding a dispute on the alleged infringement of the “1954” lamp, an industrial design work composed of several lamps exhibited at the Milan Triennale of 1954 (the lamps jointly, the “Exhibition”). The Supreme Court held that the perception of the industrial design is consolidated in the Exhibition and in its scenography function, and that the iconic significance of the lamp is not to be attributed to the luminous structure as such, but rather to its use as a tool for the construction of the Exhibition space. Moreover, the order upheld the judgment under appeal stating that the copyright protection provided for by Article 2(1)(10) of the Italian Copyright Law requires originality and creativity in the form of its expression, reflecting the personality of the author, and that these parameters were recognised in relation to the Exhibition as a whole, but not in relation to the lamp as such, extrapolated from the Exhibition.

Newsletter n. 98 – July 2024