Copyright: what it is, how long it lasts, what it protects

We often hear about copyright, but the underlying concept of copyright may not always be clear: what exactly is it about? Does it have a specific duration? And what does it aim to protect?

In order to adequately answer these questions, we will obviously have to start with the definitions.

The term “copyright” is used to identify a legal institution whose purpose is to provide protection to authors and their work by granting the original author various property and moral rights. Among these, the most common ones are the recognition of authorship of the work and the right to receive compensation whenever the work in question is used or adopted by third parties.

Copyright according to the SIAE

SIAE, the well-known Italian Society of Authors and Publishers, defines creative works as a precious asset, “expression of an intellectual work that the law protects like any other work”, and explains that copyright is born, in fact, at the very moment when the work comes to life. According to SIAE, this right “ensures compensation for intellectual work and protects the birth and life of intellectual works”.

As far as the Italian copyright law is concerned, it refers to Law no. 633 of 22 April 1941 (LDA) and subsequent amendments, while in several foreign countries different models will be adopted that refer instead to the so-called “copyright”.

What does copyright protect?

Which ones are then the beforementioned moral and intellectual property rights protected by this legal institution?

To put it in a clear and straightforward way, these rights can be divided into two large families:

• Moral rights, i.e. those protecting the author understood as a person and which reverberate in the possibility of claiming the authorship of the work, in the right to the integrity of creation, in the right of rethinking and in the right of unpublished works.
• Intellectual property rights i.e. related to the economic aspect of the work. These rights apply when the work is adopted by third parties, i.e. published, reproduced, transcribed, translated, performed, represented, recited or communicated to the public, rented and lent. In all these cases, the author is entitled to remuneration.

Having clarified this important difference, it must however be clarified that in the case of economic use of the work, the rights may be definitively assigned to third parties, but without the original author being stripped of their moral rights, which remain untouchable.

Which works are covered by copyright?

The works covered by copyright are very vast, and a complete list can be found in articles 1 to 5 of Law n. 633 of 1941.

Generally speaking, this legal institution covers all artistic works having a so-called “creative character”, i.e. which are new and original.

These include literary work of any kind, musical work and compositions, work related to sculpture, drawing and painting, choreographic and theatrical work, cinematographic work, photography, technical-industrial drawings and even databases and software. Copyright also includes TV formats, games and prize competitions, television programmes, creative commercials and even recipe books.

One last curiosity: translators also boast special copyrights, as their contribution involves creative and intellectual elaboration of the original work.

How long does copyright last?

As mentioned above, moral rights related to copyright are not subject to a time limit. On the contrary, intellectual property rights have a well-defined duration.

Specifically, reference is made in this case to Legislative Decree no. 22 of 21.02.2014, implementing Directive 2011/77/EU and amending Directive 2006/116/EC: with this legislation, the duration of intellectual property rights has increased from the previous fifty years from the author’s death to the current seventy.

The reason for this change was explained at the time directly by the Legislator, who pointed out that fifty years of protection was insufficient to “protect the performance for the lifetime of artists”. The extension to seventy years was therefore justified by a desire for protection “at a time in life when artists could face a drop in income”.

It is clear that extending the intellectual property rights up to seventy years after the death of the author of the work also allows their heirs to benefit almost in full, while the “creator” of the intellectual work will take economic advantage of their rights for their entire lifetime.