Are film posters and playbills protected by copyright?
This question is answered by the Italian legal system through Law no. 633 of April 22, 1941 on copyright:
Copyright protects original intellectual works of a creative nature in the fields of literature, music, visual arts, architecture, theatre, and cinematography, regardless of the mode or form of expression.
Therefore, the vast majority of movie posters and playbills you find online cannot be used without a proper license granted by the rights holder.
To avoid breaking the law, it is crucial to understand the rules governing the proper use of images.
Copyright: protection for the author
Copyright is an inherent right, automatically granted upon the creation of a work, and protects literary and artistic property worldwide.
Its scope is divided into:
• Moral rights: which allow the author to claim authorship and object to any distortion or modification of the work;
• Economic rights: which grant the exclusive right to economically exploit the work, limiting its reproduction, distribution, or adaptation.
The author can transfer the economic rights to another party who, by becoming the official rights holder, is free to use the work as they see fit.
The term “copyright” should not be interpreted literally, as the actual creator of the image does not necessarily coincide with the holder of the exploitation rights.
Copyright on film posters and playbills
The Italian Masters of Poster Painting are internationally renowned for their outstanding artistic quality. For much of the 20th century, these painters created almost all of the imagery used in posters and playbills for film releases in Italy.
As the original holders of both moral and economic rights, they granted temporary licenses to film distribution companies for in-theatre promotional use.
Later, most of them—or their heirs—transferred the economic rights of usage and commercial exploitation to S.A.C. S.r.l. and Webphoto S.r.l.
S.A.C., in turn, licensed these rights to its concessionaire, Webphoto S.r.l.
Since 2024, S.A.C. S.r.l. has merged with Webphoto S.r.l., becoming SacWebphoto S.r.l., which now holds both the rights originally acquired by S.A.C. and those acquired by Webphoto.
Copyright: the right to copy
The term copyright, which generally refers to copyright law, also protects posters and playbills as creative works of authorship, in Italy as well as in many other countries.
More accurately, the term originates from U.S. law and refers to the right to copy a work, with a focus on its economic exploitation.
"The reproduction of a work is a form of economic use protected under Article 13 of the law safeguarding copyright."
Although the law makes explicit reference to economic gain, even non-commercial use of a protected work still requires permission from the rights holder.
Why contact SacWebphoto?
The unauthorized use of posters and playbills by anyone other than the rights holder is subject to civil, administrative, and criminal penalties.
It is therefore essential to correctly identify the legitimate rights holder of the works you wish to use.
SacWebphoto, for the rights it has acquired from the Poster Painters, holds the authority to license the images of the artworks they created, originally selected to promote the theatrical release of approximately 20,000 films released in Italy between 1930 and 1995.
