Creative commons: the author must authorize the use for commercial purposes

By the judgment of 30th of May 2016, n. 6766, the Special Department for Business Law of the Court of Milan found illegitimate the use of works of arts for commercial purposes without stating the copyright owner.

In this particular case, a tourist company has used the image of a professional photographer, and copyright owner, for advertising and promotional purposes, without having requested and being granted by the photographer any authorization. The image in question, showing all the requirements of article 90, law 633/1941, including its author and under creative commons license; thus, the picture can be shared, copied and modified freely by third parties, provided that a few conditions are met: the copyright owner must be clearly stated, together with a link to the site of the copyright owner, and use for commercial purposes is not allowed.

The Court of Milan sentenced the tourist company to pay compensation for damages, in favor of the plaintiff, for a total sum of euros 1,920.00 plus legal interests and costs, for violating the copyright provisions on the photograph, having illegally used the image for advertising and promotional purposes.