You need to pay attention when representing of famous artworks in commercial communication and in distinctive signs: in fact, a recent ruling by the Court of Florence clarifies that the image of a artwork for commercial purposes is not free but requires the payment of a consideration to the holding entity (Museum, Gallery, etc.). As indicated by the Consumer Code, only certain uses of a non-economic nature are lawful. The Court condemned a training center that had used the image of Michelangelo’s David: “the use of the image of the David on the site of a commercial enterprise is capable of debasing the image of the cultural asset by making it debase as a distinctive element of quality of the company that, through its use, promotes its image, with definitely commercial use, which could lead third parties to consider such free use lawful or tolerated” even regardless of whether they are images taken from the original by the user himself. Preliminary reliefs can be granted, as damage to the image of the artistic asset can be irreversible. The sentence does not explain whether images inspired by the cultural gasset, that is, that do not reproduce it as it is, are outside the protection indicated.
