SPEAKERS
The Regulation of Copyright in Italy
Andrea Pizzi, Lawyer specialising in copyright law
The talk, besides explaining the differences between diritto d’autore (author’s right) and the — mistakenly used as a synonym — term “copyright”, aims to shed light on the current legislation, its future extensions, and the regulation of its areas of practical application for those, like many professionals and museum institutions, who must disseminate and use its content while fully respecting the artist’s creativity. The rapid technological developments that continue to transform the way works are created, produced, distributed and exploited, together with the emergence of new business models and new players constantly appearing on the scene of the use of creativity, call for an update to the legislation, to which Directive 2019/790 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 seeks to respond.
In recent years, the functioning of the online content market has become increasingly complex. Online services for sharing user-uploaded content (including social networks) have become one of the main sources of access to copyright-protected content. However, while enabling variety and accessibility of content, they create problems when content is uploaded on a mass and indiscriminate scale without the prior consent of rights holders.
Biography
Lawyer. Active in the field of art law since 1998. Founder of the Art Law Commission at the UIA (Union Internationale des Avocats) in Paris, which he chaired from 2005 to 2010. Author of numerous articles and writings on the subject, and of columns in specialist magazines. He provides professional assistance to museums, foundations, artists and collectors. AMACI consultant since 2008, he also contributed to the creation of the RAAM Archive, established through the efforts of the MiBACT’s Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity and AMACI, in collaboration with SIAE. He organises legal seminars and conferences on art law in Italy and abroad. He is a lecturer in art law at LUISS Business School in Rome.
SIAE’s protection in the field of reproduction rights for works of the figurative arts, with particular regard to museum institutions
Valeria Foresi, Director of the OLAF Section – SIAE
SIAE (the Italian Society of Authors and Publishers), a public economic body of an associative nature, has the institutional purpose of ensuring that authors of creative and intellectual works receive the copyright protection provided for by law, acting, on the basis of current legislation, as an intermediary between rights holders and the many parties who make use of protected works.
This protection is exercised by SIAE both on the basis of functions performed by law (as in the case of resale rights) and by virtue of the mandate conferred on it by artists and their rights holders themselves (as in the case of the right to reproduce works in any form and on any type of medium).
Through dialogue with contemporary art museums, which play a fundamental role in promoting the study, research and dissemination of knowledge of our cultural heritage, SIAE therefore intends to guarantee its rights holders respect for their rights, while encouraging the dissemination of content by third parties in a way that respects authorial prerogatives. The talk aims to shed light on the protection that SIAE — through the OLAF Section — provides in favour of artists and, with direct reference to the themes of the event, to explore, from a perspective of dialogue and collaboration with museum institutions dealing with contemporary art, the scope of its own remit in relation to the activities carried out by the latter.
Biography
Having graduated in law from the University of Pisa, she completed a valuable apprenticeship at two notary offices in Rome. She then began her career at SIAE in 2012, first in the Corporate Secretariat, where, until 2015, she gained an understanding of the complexity of the Society’s functions, before working in the Internal Audit Office as an officer until 2017. Finally, after a necessary period shadowing the Director of the OLAF Section from June 2017, she took over the running of that Section on 2 January 2018. On the basis of assignments of differing kinds — some rights are intermediated by law, others on the basis of the mandate conferred by rights holders — the Section protects the repertoire of literary works and works of the figurative arts, thereby offering a privileged vantage point over two very different markets, both of which are valuable to SIAE’s positioning strategy; within the world of cultural consumption, SIAE remains the institutional body in Italy responsible for promoting and protecting copyright.
The Fausto Melotti Foundation and Copyright Protection
Edoardo Gnemmi, Art Advisor and Director of the Fausto Melotti Foundation
Edoardo Gnemmi, Director of the Fausto Melotti Foundation in Milan, examines specifically the copyright protection of the artist Fausto Melotti (1901–1986), discussing the issues and current state of the regulations facing an art foundation in Italy at a time of radical change towards digitisation and the global sharing of images. The Fausto Melotti Foundation was one of the first Italian institutions to make available online, albeit not yet complete, a general catalogue, giving anyone free access to images and information for the study and consultation of Fausto Melotti’s work.
The relationships with SIAE and with public institutions such as museums and Soprintendenze (heritage authorities) will also be examined, with a view to possible and desirable greater collaboration between the public and private sectors.
Biography
An advisor, curator, art business manager and collection manager with thirty years of leading experience in the international and national art world and market, including managerial experience running art foundations and galleries. Born in Milan in 1975, he graduated in law from the University of Milan and is a speaker and visiting professor at conferences and various universities. He has been Director of the Fausto Melotti Foundation in Milan since 2014, and since 2019 has headed the Modern and Contemporary Art Department at OpenCare Art Advisory; he collaborates with the artist Roberto Cuoghi and the Hauser & Wirth gallery, and has worked since 1999 as a manager and advisor for some of the most important collectors of post-war and contemporary art.
Il Giornale dei Musei: 40 Years of Experience
Umberto Allemandi, Founder and President of Umberto Allemandi Edizioni
Umberto Allemandi, founder and director of the world’s first art-sector periodical conceived as a news daily, will discuss case histories drawn from decades of journalistic experience built on relationships, collaborations and constant communication with the museum world at an international level.
Biography
Born in Turin in 1938, he worked as an editor, copywriter and layout designer for major magazines even during his studies in political science. Director-General of the Bolaffi publishing house from 1958, he planned and directed all of its new publishing and journalistic initiatives in particular, as well as the publication of volumes such as the Bolaffi Art Catalogues and the 11-volume Dictionary of Italian Painters and Engravers.
In 1982 he founded his own publishing house, Umberto Allemandi & C., through which he launched Il Giornale dell’Arte, ever since Italy’s leading periodical in the art sector, and, from 2002, Il Giornale dell’Architettura. In 1990 he set up Umberto Allemandi & C. Publishing to publish the international edition, titled The Art Newspaper, in London and New York; it is now distributed in more than 70 countries, with a current global print run of over 1,000,000 copies.
In 1992 he received the National Prize for Culture for publishing from the then Prime Minister Ciampi (alongside Renzo Piano for architecture, Luciano Berio for music, Alberto Burri for painting, Vittorio Gassman for theatre, Emilio Servadio for medicine and Sergio Quinzio for philosophy).
He is currently President of his own company, Umberto Allemandi & C., and has been a Regency Councillor at the Turin branch of the Bank of Italy since 1966. He was made a Commendatore in 2005.
Swiss Copyright Law: A Comparative Introduction to Aspects Relevant to Museums
Mark Reutter, Lawyer specialising in copyright law
The talk will provide an overview of Swiss copyright law, its basic principles, protection aspects and the related compliance requirements that may be relevant for museums. Among other things, it will explore in particular the field of protection for works of art and will offer a critical presentation of the new copyright protection covering all photographic works, including certain exceptions and facilities for museums. These are applied to facilitate museums’ day-to-day work and the fulfilment of their mission. The presentation will conclude with an analysis of some of the questions museums may have regarding copyright.
Biography
Born in 1964, Mark A. Reutter studied law at the Universities of Lausanne and Zurich, specialising at Harvard Law School, where he also held teaching positions. He works in Zurich and is a partner at WalderWyss, one of Switzerland’s leading law firms. From the very start of his career he worked for a well-known art gallery in St. Gallen, Switzerland, representing Italian artists including Giuseppe Capogrossi, Piero Dorazio and Giuseppe Santomaso, and gaining broad insight into contemporary art, its market and its particular characteristics. His doctoral thesis, focused on exclusive relationships between artists and distributors under Swiss and North American law, was a direct result of these experiences. Since then he has continued to publish regularly and address topics relating to art, its market and the law. Against this background, his legal practice has, from the outset, focused on advising buyers, museums, collectors and purchasers on art law and intellectual property. He also actively collaborates with various art institutions, has served as President of the Kunsthalle Zürich, and is a member of the Board of the Swiss Institute for Art History.
The full recording of the AMACI Study Day is available online, in Italian only, on the AMACI YouTube channel and that of the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the Ministry of Culture.
