Case Comment: La Dolce Vita and Design: Italian Court Confirms Copyright of Concept Store

Abstract:

On April 30, 2020, the Italian Supreme Court of Cassation (the highest court of appeal in the country) issued its decision in Kiko SpA v Wycon SpA, a long-standing copyright case involving competing retailers in the global cosmetics industry. In particular, the Italian Supreme Court confirmed that copyright protection extended to the “concept-store” design that was created for and implemented in the Kiko retail locations.

Kiko reaches beyond Italian borders. The Italian Supreme Court relied on recent decisions of the European Union for both general and specific principles of intellectual property law, and applied those cases to confirm the Kiko copyright claim. Kiko is also relevant to Canadian copyright law and, in particular, recent case law on the protection of buildings as “architectural works.” Whether a Kiko-style case would be decided similarly in Canada is an open question.