Why in Italy we still do not have a law protecting corporate archives

If creativity is a flowing river, it is important to protect its course, starting from the source. Out of metaphor: if the tangible and intangible traces that testify to the history of companies - especially creative ones such as design brands - constitute a true heritage, it is essential to collect them, order them and, today more than ever, protect them.

The reasons, as we have already seen in the first instalment on archives, are many: a well-organised archive is a source of inspiration, but also supports identity.

The road is not an easy one: 'Given that companies have become aware of the importance of properly keeping an archive not only of products, but also of other materials such as, for example, advertising campaigns, the problem is protection,' says lawyer Giulia Affer, partner at the law firm Trevisan & Cuonzo, specialising, among other things, in issues relating to the protection of intellectual property rights. 'We are here trying to raise awareness so that the archive becomes a right in its own right'. As he explains, today there is no law protecting the archive as such: 'The archive is a complex set of tangible and intangible assets and information. Photographs, drawings, patents, sketches, trademarks, models and other intellectual creations individually are protected by law, but as a whole as an archive they do not have a law that specifically protects them. Moreover, today, when speaking of archives, one inevitably speaks of databases, a collection of computerised documents. And the relevant European regulation is from 1996, not in step with the times'. So what is to be done if an archive is hacked and copied (and today the risk is very high)? "Whoever organises the database must provide good protection at the IT level, including through AI systems. At the legal level, there is a push to change the '96 discipline; in the meantime, we organise the database in the most original way possible, so that we can claim authoritative protection. If the archive is physical and organised, for example, as a museum, as Vitra has done with its iconic products, authorial protection also applies to the whole. Furthermore, the individual piece exhibited in the museum can also invoke notoriety, thereby acquiring a higher degree of protection. One example for all: Dior's bustier, exhibited in the maison's museum and recognised as a universal model, is more easily protected in court, even by copies that deviate from the original'.