Cultural Dissemination and Commercial Exploitation of Images of Architectural and Art Works: “Freedom of Panorama” under Scrutiny

Abstract

The freedom of panorama is an exception to copyright regulated at the Community level that allows architectural and art works permanently located in public places to be photographed, videotaped and disseminated in any way for any purpose. Its transposition into national legislation, with significant differences, is of great importance both for the dissemination of culture and for the commercial exploitation of images, particularly in the digital environment. These differences are due to the optional nature of the exception and its broad formulation. It is worth analyzing these two issues, contrasting the UE regulation with national legislation, in particular in Sain, to conclude whether it is possible to reduce existing differences to achieve the greatest possible degree of harmonisation among all of them.