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On 7 January 2015, the Appeals Court of Milan issued a decision that represents a turning point in Italian case law on the role and liability of internet service providers (ISPs), insofar as it rejects the “Italian” distinction between “active” and “passive” hosting providers, lending a new perspective to the issue. The case was brought by Reti Televisive Italiane S.p.A (RTI), Italy’s main private broadcaster and part of the Mediaset group, against Yahoo! Italia S.r.l. (Yahoo! Italia) and Yahoo!, Inc. The decision overturned a previous decision of the Milan Court of First Instance issued on 19...

On 10 November 2014, the Italian Council of Ministers adopted legislative decree no. 163 implementing Directive 2012/28/EU on certain permitted uses of orphan works (i.e. works whose rightholders cannot be identified or located) by publicly accessible libraries, educational establishments and museums, as well as by archives, film or audio heritage institutions and public-service broadcasting organisations (see IRIS 2012-10/1). The above decree, adopted by virtue of the powers delegated to the Government by the Parliament in the European Delegation Act for 2013 (Law of 6 August 2013, no. 96), introduces...

On 17 July 2014, the Autorità per le garanzie nelle comunicazioni (Italian media regulation authority - AGCOM) adopted a new regulation concerning the notification of transfers of ownership, mergers, and agreements in the broadcasting sector, as well as the enforcement of the concentration limits set out in the Consolidated Law on Audiovisual and Radio Media Services (CLARMS). The regulation, which consists of six chapters, replaces and repeals an earlier regulation attached to AGCOM Decision no. 646/06/CONS.  The regulation first deals with the notification requirement for transfers of ownership...

On 6 May 2014 the Autorità per le garanzie nelle comunicazioni (Italian Communications Authority - AGCOM) launched, by Resolution no. 151/14/CONS, a public consultation on the obligations to promote European works applicable to non-linear (i.e., on-demand) audiovisual media service providers (VOD providers). Article 4-bis of the Regulation approved by AGCOM Resolution no. 66/09/CONS, requires VOD providers to alternatively: (i) ensure that their catalogue contains at least 20 per cent European works, calculated in terms of the total number of hours of programming made available each year in the...

In November 2013 the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, Frank La Rue, undertook an official visit to Italy and on April 29, 2014 delivered his Report. Not surprisingly, the UN Special Rapporteur acknowledges that Italy protects freedom of opinion and expression and the Italian legal framework is in line with the relevant international standards. At the same time, the UN Special Rapporteur raises some concerns and recommends the adoption of certain measures. Although Resolution 1577 (2007) of the Council of Europe Parliamentary...