Is the Italian Cultural Heritage eligible for protection also outside the Italian territory and even against exploitation lacking direct commercial purposes?

When a work of art is considered also a “cultural asset”, as defined by the Cultural Heritage Code, its use and reproduction are subject to a rather strict rule: they must be authorized by the competent Italian public entities, determining the royalty due for the license of the work of art. Recently the Court of Venice applied the above rule in a case where Ravensburger had used the image of the Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man as the subject of its puzzles, without any prior authorization by the Museum holding the piece of art …

Publish date: 07/06/2023