ALAI 2016 International Congress, Rome 15/16 September 2016

The Conference of the International Literary and Artistic Association (ALAI) was held this year to discuss the theme: Applied Arts under IP Law - The Uncertain border between Beauty and Usefulness. While it is usual to think in terms of copyright protection when we speak about typical artistic works such as those of literature, painting, music, theater or cinema, no great space has been given to discuss that part of the Intellectual Property that concerns aspects of the human creativity which can be also subject of the Industrial Property law, like the shape of industrial products that are often subject of IP tools such as registered designs. The border between “beauty and usefulness” of a product is often quite blurred, and there are differences in the approach of the law and the jurisprudence at national level from country to country. Hence, it is not often easy to say if, how, where and how long an industrial design can be protected, and this uncertainty can be of great impact on authors and industry, who risk losing protection on their original works. The conference offered a high level discussion on this topic with some of the internationally most renowned experts of intellectual property rights. The acts will be published in spring 2017.