Venice court tackles copyright protection for architectural works as applied to yachts
Via Katfriends Elena Martini and Luigi Manna ( Martini Manna Law Firm ) comes the news that recently the Venice Court of First Instance - in the context of interim proceedings - acknowledged copyright protection in the design (including of its interiors) of a yacht ( RG 2236/2018 ). Background An architect, Tiberio Cerato, was commissioned to design the layout, interiors and furnishings of a yacht named Checkmate. A company, Wally, from which the yacht purchaser had only acquired the structural parts, however, published on its own website photographs of the yacht as if it was its own work. It also uploaded a video of the yacht on both YouTube and Vimeo in which it represented itself as the one responsible for the styling and interior design, without even mentioning the architect's name and indicating, instead, itself and another person as responsible for them. Cerato requested the Venice Court of First Instance to issue an interim order that would prohibit the company from ...