Legal Definitions - diritto connessi

Diritto connessi translates from Italian to Neighboring Rights. These are legal protections granted to individuals and organizations who play a crucial role in bringing creative works to the public, even though they are not the original authors or creators of the work itself. While distinct from copyright, which protects the original author's creation, neighboring rights are "connected" to these works and ensure that performers, producers, and broadcasters are compensated and have control over their contributions. They recognize the significant investment of skill, effort, and resources required to interpret, record, or disseminate creative content.

Here are some examples illustrating Neighboring Rights:

• Musical Performance and Recording: Imagine a talented vocalist performing a classic song written by a famous songwriter. A record label records this performance and releases it as a new track. The original songwriter holds the copyright to the song's melody and lyrics. However, the vocalist has neighboring rights over their specific interpretation and performance of the song, and the record label (as the producer of the sound recording) has neighboring rights over that particular recording. These rights allow the vocalist and the record label to control how their performance and recording are used, such as being played on the radio, streamed online, or included in a film, and to receive royalties, even though they did not write the original song.

• Live Broadcast of an Event: Consider a television network that invests heavily in equipment, personnel, and satellite time to broadcast a live international sports tournament. The athletes and sports organizations might have their own rights related to the event itself. However, the broadcasting organization holds neighboring rights over its specific broadcast signal. This means they can prevent other entities from simply re-transmitting or re-broadcasting their live feed without permission, even if the underlying sporting event is not subject to their copyright. These rights protect the significant financial and technical investment the broadcaster makes in capturing, producing, and transmitting the event to viewers.

• Published Edition of a Public Domain Book: Suppose a publishing house creates a beautifully designed and meticulously typeset new edition of a classic novel, such as "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," which is now in the public domain (meaning its original copyright has expired). While anyone is free to publish the text of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," the publishing house may hold neighboring rights over the specific typographical arrangement, layout, and visual presentation of *their particular edition*. This prevents another publisher from simply photocopying and selling their exact typeset pages without permission, thereby protecting the original publisher's investment in creating a high-quality, readable, and aesthetically pleasing physical product, even though the literary content itself is freely available.