Copyright aims to protect the fruits of intellectual activity by granting the original author of a work a series of rights of both a moral and economic nature.
What is copyright?
Behind the creative act lies commitment, labor, and an investment of time (and often money), which makes the creative act an activity to be protected by recognizing the merits of its creator.
The purpose, therefore, is to encourage creation and provide incentives to "create," as the work is remunerated and rewarded.
It is a legal institution aimed at protecting intellectual activity, or rather the creations resulting from it, by granting the author various rights of both a moral and economic type—in other words, intellectual property.
Through this protection, the creator has the opportunity to exploit their work from a commercial point of view, deriving profits from it.
Copyright was designed to protect the creative act—that is, the work and investment made by an individual to bring something unique to life, a creation appreciated by society. In a sense, it is also useful for encouraging creativity and the desire to produce intellectual works of value.
In Italy, SIAE (Società Italiana degli Autori ed Editori – Italian Society of Authors and Publishers) is the body responsible for protecting rights related to musical creations. It is entrusted with the task of protecting economic, moral, and related rights.
Which works are covered by copyright?
This legal institution protects all so-called creative works and all those linked to a production of creative ingenuity by the author, such as musical compositions, literary works, films, photographs, computer programs and databases, choreographies, architectural works, etc.
In copyright, the principle of territoriality applies: each country has a distinct system of rules in this regard. The competent Ministry in this field is the Ministero dei Beni e delle Attività Culturali e del Turismo (Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism) – Direzione Generale Biblioteche ed Istituti Culturali (Directorate General for Libraries and Cultural Institutes) – Ufficio Diritto d'Autore (Copyright Office).
In addition to copyright, there are also neighboring rights (diritti connessi), which are rights that guarantee economic compensation to subjects other than the author. To whom? To subjects connected to or related to the production of the work (for example, a record label or a publishing house)—essentially, anyone who collaborates in the realization of the work.
Law no. 633 of 1941
Also known as the "Copyright Protection Law," Law no. 633 of 1941 is the reference legislation regarding the protection of creative works.
Compared to the 1941 text, the provisions have been amended several times over the years to implement various EU directives and to adapt to the Italian Constitution.
Other legal references regarding copyright can be found in Article 2575 of the Codice Civile (Italian Civil Code), which states:
Intellectual works of a creative nature belonging to the sciences, literature, music, figurative arts, architecture, theater, and cinematography, whatever their mode or form of expression, form the subject of copyright.
In 2017, after nearly twenty years of negotiations, the new European Copyright Directive was finally approved.
The objectives of the copyright reform are: to provide greater cross-border access to online content, improve the functioning of the copyright market, and foster a financial balance between the creators of works and website publishers and online platform providers.
In particular, two articles of the Copyright Directive are contested:
Article 15 (formerly Article 11)
Dubbed the "Link Tax," Article 15 concerns so-called snippets: publishers must ask aggregators like Facebook or Google for fair payment for the use of their copyrighted text, even if it involves only short fragments or referral links. Furthermore, it is stipulated that journalists themselves will benefit from the remuneration deriving from this obligation.
Article 17 (formerly Article 13)
Article 17, on the other hand, provides for the obligation for online sharing platforms (Google and YouTube at the forefront) to use filters to prevent the publication of copyrighted content, reaffirming their liability. In practice, this means that the giants of the Web will be directly responsible for pirate copies and clips uploaded by users.
Therefore, online platforms like Google, which until now have "defended" themselves by saying that the platform merely indexes content, will now—since the Copyright Directive has been approved—be fully liable for content which, before being uploaded online, must be subjected to a form of screening.
In reality, it is not a systematic "filter," but rather a matter of making large platforms accountable; they must therefore commit to removing all illegal content and preventing its future publication.
How is copyright obtained?
Copyright arises with the creation of the work.
Unlike what happens with patents or trademarks, no type of filing is therefore necessary to obtain the right, as it is sufficient to prove being the author and having created the work before others.
To this end, precisely to facilitate the evidence to be offered regarding the authorship of a work, it is advisable to file the work with an entity that certifies its date.
In Italy, this role is essentially assumed by SIAE, where a series of works, including unpublished ones, can be deposited.
SIAE issues a certificate of deposit in which a number and a deposit date are assigned, but it does not perform any check on the content of what is deposited. Therefore, if one proceeds to deposit a work with SIAE that is not protectable under the Legge sul diritto d'Autore (Copyright Law), no right will be acquired through the deposit, even if the deposit is accepted by SIAE.
Which works can be used freely?
Some uses of protected works are, however, free—meaning they can be carried out without having to request any consent.
The following are permitted:
- Summaries,
- Quotations,
- The reproduction of passages or parts of a work if carried out for the purpose of criticism or discussion, or for teaching purposes,
Provided that there is no commercial purpose.
The free publication via the internet, free of charge, of low-resolution or degraded images and music is permitted for educational or scientific use, provided there is no profit motive.
The summary, quotation, or reproduction must always be accompanied by a mention of the title of the work, the names of the author, the publisher and, in the case of a translation, the translator, if such indications appear on the reproduced work (Art. 70 LA – Legge Autore).
It is possible to reproduce in newspapers or magazines, indicating the source, articles on current events of an economic, political, or religious nature that have appeared in the periodical press, provided that the reproduction has not been expressly prohibited (Art. 65 LA), which in reality happens almost always.
It is also possible to reproduce in newspapers or periodicals, again indicating the source, speeches on topics of political or administrative interest made in public assemblies or otherwise in public, within the limits justified by the informative purpose (Art. 66 LA).
Specifically, regarding newspaper articles, Art. 101 LA further establishes that the reproduction of information and news is lawful provided it is not carried out using acts contrary to honest practices in journalism and provided the source is cited.
Finally, the reproduction of works or parts of works in judicial or administrative proceedings is lawful (Art. 67 LA).
How to protect copyright?
The most secure and complete system for legally certifying the authorship of one's works appears to be registering with the Società Italiana degli Autori ed Editori (SIAE), which is specifically concerned with protecting copyright. To do this, it is necessary to register as an author or pay a sum for each work produced.
Another solution to certify, if not the authorship of the work, at least the possession of the work as it is at a certain date, consists of printing one's work and mailing it to oneself via registered mail with return receipt. Once the package is received, it must never be opened until it is published or until problems arise with someone who publishes a text under their name that is "strangely" identical to ours, even if only partially. By doing so, we exploit the legal validity of the registered mail to certify that, at the date of mailing, we were already in possession of the work in question.
A similar method suitable for more tech-savvy authors is to send oneself a PEC (Posta Elettronica Certificata – Certified Electronic Mail), which is an email with the same legal value as registered mail with return receipt. It is therefore sufficient to send one's work to oneself via PEC to certify possession at the date of sending.