Comment on 'Metalco' - 'Top-Tier Design', Copyright Protection, and the Assessment of the 'Artistic Value' Requirement Under Italian Law

摘要

Everybody sees that defining "artistic value" is not just a problem of interpretation, but one of policy: because the design system does not offer protection to designs of commercial success for longer than 25 years, undertakings look for proprietary protection under copyright law, and courts are sensitive to the matter. Still, a stricter test would be preferable even for policy reasons, as a narrower interpretation of the concept of artistic value would limit the revival of IP protection for industrial designs, with lower risks for the investments of competitors that lawfully start to reproduce three-dimensional shapes when they are in the public domain.