USE IT OR LOSE IT: IL DIRITTO DI REVOCA PER MANCATO SFRUTTAMENTO NEL DIRITTO D'AUTORE

This dissertation examines and assesses the new revocation right for lack of exploitation (use-it-or-lose-it provision) introduced by Article 22 of the Directive 2019/790/EU (CDSM). To do so, Chapter 1 analyses the relationship between authors and their publishers in the history of copyright. Furthermore, the Chapter explores the contemporary contractual agreements between creators (authors and performers) and commercial intermediaries (publishers, record labels, film studios, etc.) in the creative industries. This highlights the disparity of bargaining power in favour of the latter. Consequently, this implies that intermediaries may not exploit the rights they have acquired by creators, often on an exclusive basis. In this way, intermediaries may deprive them of the possibility of engaging in a discourse with the public, following the Kantian approach to creative works. This paper also highlights phenomena such as the development of new intermediaries (linked to the digital era) and, conversely, disintermediation. Chapter 1 analyses the Italian Copyright Law (L.A.) preceding the CDSM Directive, focusing on provisions that permit authors to regain the rights they have granted or assigned.

Chapter 2 delves into the context of the CDSM Directive, especially its Chapter 3 of Title IV. Afterwards, it examines the prerequisites and the single elements of this protective measure provided to authors and performers. Several interpretation problems emerge in the work, notably regarding the notion of lack of exploitation and the hypothesis for it to be contractually overridden. The paper also considers the Italian transposition of Article 22 CDSM, which led to the introduction of Article 110-septies of the Italian Copyright Law (L.A.). The transposition has not clarified the interpretative doubts of the EU provision. On the contrary, Article 110-septies adds further perplexity regarding the qualification of the possible termination for lack of exploitation that it introduces.

Lastly, Chapter 3 consists of a comparative study of copyright reversion mechanisms, i.e., provisions that permit the author to regain the rights he granted or assigned, upon the occurrence of a trigger situation. Hence, the landscape of reversion rights in the EU Member States appears diverse, whereas systems belonging to the Anglo-American tradition maintain distinctive features. Notably, this thesis inspects the US system, which provides for so-called termination rights triggered on a time basis. Among the Commonwealth systems, the historical experience of the UK is reported, which culminated with the abrogation of the reversion mechanism. Thus, British authors are left with only general competition and contractual remedies. The Chapter also examines the main criticisms of the right of revocation and their respective rebuttals. Indeed, in conclusion, the dissertation emphasises the moral aspect of the right and it argues the opportunity of extending the provision.