Maria Lai's Heir Wins Court Order Blocking Unauthorized Reproduction of Artist's Works

The Court of Cagliari, in a proceeding initiated in March 2020 by Maria Lai's heir against the Fondazione Stazione dell'Arte, with the voluntary intervention of the Municipality of Ulassai, issued a precautionary order on January 19, 2021, prohibiting the further commercialization and distribution of two volumes containing images of the artist's works. The heir, who established the Archivio delle opere Maria Lai in 2016 and the Fondazione Maria Lai in 2018, claimed that the publications—partly edited by Arte Duchamp with Arti Grafiche Pisano—reproduced Lai's works without consent. The defendant foundation and the municipality argued that Lai, when donating over one hundred works to the foundation in 2004, intended to transfer economic exploitation rights as well. The court applied Article 109 of Italian copyright law (Law No. 633/41), which states that transfer of a physical copy does not imply transfer of economic rights unless expressly agreed. Finding no evidence of such transfer, the court upheld the heir's exclusive rights. The foundation and municipality have filed an appeal, and a separate ordinary proceeding is pending before the same court.