English 
Italiano The Court of Rome, by order of 15 October 2014, shows its position on a case of plagiarism of a not typified works of art, namely the format, that is the basic plan for the arrangement of a specified production.
The jurisprudence recognizes the format as a work of art protectable with copyright, provided that it has the minimal creativity required for the access to the copyright protection.
In the present case the applicant was an association that had created a festival of short films characterized by a well-defined format, consisting of the following elements:
- a specific theme (the value of diversity)
- the location (Rome)
- the yearly structure (three days, two of them of screenings and awards, one of gala)
- two juries (one technical and one mixed)
- a series of different awards.
The applicant had applied to the Court for an emergency protection against an association which organized a festival with the same format, namely with the same theme and the same location, two juries and very similar awards.
It was, therefore, a slavish imitation, which is the kind of imitation for which it is possible to act with the protection afforded by copyright, while copyright does not extend to creative reworkings, namely to the “similar ideas which have an element of essential distinction which is the result of the creativity of the author”.
The Court accepted the appeal and confirmed the protectable of the format which, however,
“must have a kind of completeness, namely it cannot consist of a basic idea so much vague that must be continuously developed in order to be realized. This must be a scheme feasible in itself, without substantial modifications”.
The Court also states that
“copyright is protected regardless of the potential of confusion that imitation may have caused. It is not a distinctive sign, therefore its violation is relevant without the necessity of a confusion in the public between the original and its emulation”.
Which characteristics has a television format to have in order to be protected by copyright?
The judgments clearly describe which characteristics a television format must have in order to enjoy the protection of copyright.
The Court of Rome (judgment n. 15880, October 12, 2021) reiterated what has been previously expressed by the Corte di Cassazione, namely:
“In order to establish whether a format can be an intellectual work protected by an exclusive right, it is necessary, especially when it is a work characterized by a diachronic narrative development, articulated in a succession of episodes, that there is a programmatic structure with a minimum degree of creative elaboration, characterized by the initial identification of at least the structural elements of the story, such as the setting in time and space, the main characters, their characters and the common thread of the narration”
(Cass. Civ., Section I, 13.10.2011 n. 21172)
The Corte di Cassazione adds that, if these elements are absent or not sufficiently defined, it is not possible to invoke the protection of copyright “because there is an idea which is still so vague and generic to be comparable to an empty box”.
Considering that the copyright does not protect the idea itself but its expressive form, it follows that not only the same idea can be the basis of different works by different authors, but also that counterfeiting must be excluded in the presence of “a work which is inspiring, obviously in a non-slavish way, to elements of the plot or parts of the content of another work”, when the second work is represented with a different expression from the first.
(Cass. Civile, Sez. I, June 16, 2011 n.13249)
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