Florence's Academy Gallery beats scalpers on copyright ground

It is an important victory that the Accademia Gallery in Florence has reported against one of the agencies selling museum tickets at a premium price (what many call “scalping”). In fact, the Florentine institution has reported an agency specializing in this type of service to the judicial authorities because it used images of works in the Gallery without having received any consent. In fact, the Cultural Heritage Code stipulates that anyone who wants to use images of state-owned cultural property for profit (as was the case with the agency in question, which used the image of Michelangelo’s David to advertise its commercial activity) must make an official request to the entity that manages the property.

It turned out that the agency was not operating in compliance with the law. As a result, the Academy Gallery obtained against the private company, through theState Attorney’s Office, an order prohibiting the agency from using the reproduction of the David for commercial purposes. The same order requires the agency to withdraw from sale all advertising material containing the reproduction in question, to remove the image of the David from its website, and to publish, at its own expense, the order in three newspapers of national circulation and in three periodicals selected by the Gallery, as well as on the agency’s website. Finally, the company was ordered to pay the Ministry of Culture the sum of two thousand euros for each day of non-compliance with the provisions of the Ordinance.

It is likely that now other museums will also follow the Academy Gallery’s example, taking to the copyright ground the “clash” that pits them against agencies that sell tickets at adjusted prices.

Image: the David tribune at the Accademia Gallery in Florence. Ph. Credit Finestre Sull’Arte.

Florence's Academy Gallery beats scalpers on copyright ground

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