The case is not recent, (it all started in 1995...), but a few days ago the Supreme Court gave its last word on the mount of damages due to Bruno Bergonzi and Michele Vicino from the heirs of the famous American pop star, Prince Rogers Nelson, better known as Prince, for having violated the latter's copyright with the famous song "The most beautiful girl in the world".
On January 25th 2021, the Supreme Court ruled on the appeal filed by Prince's heirs against the 2018 decision of the Rome Court of Appeal awarding the two Italian authors, in addition to economic damages (in Euro 956,608.00...), also moral damages, in the lower amount of Euro 40,000.00, for the "artistic frustration" suffered by the same authors as a result of the plagiarism of their original work.
But let's take a step back: in 1995 Bruno Bergonzi and Michele Vicino together with Edizioni Chappell s.r.l. - respectively authors and assignee of the exploitation rights of the song "Takin' me to paradise" - brought an action before the Court of Rome to ascertain the plagiarism of the above-mentioned musical work by Prince Rogers Nelson, Controversy Inc. and Fortissimo Gruppo Editoriale s.r.I., respectively author and assignee of the economic rights of the song distributed under the title "The most beautiful girl in the world", with the consequent sentence to pay compensation for economic and moral damages.
On January 30th 2003, the Court of Rome rejected the application of Bruno Bergonzi, Michele Vicino and Edizioni Chappell s.r.l..
However (although after 7 years...) the first Court's decision was overturned on appeal: the Court of Appeal ascertained the plagiarism, prohibited the diffusion of the song in the Italian State and condemned Prince and Controversy Inc. jointly and severally, to pay compensation for economic damages liquidated in the amount of Euro 956.608.00 to Bergonzi and Vicino. Fortissimo Gruppo Editoriale was instead condemned to pay compensation in the lower amount of Euro 6,888.40; in this judgment, the Court of Appeal rejected, however, the claim for compensation for damages for breach of moral rights of the Italian authors, deeming insufficient the allegations of evidence in support of such damage provided by the plaintiffs.
This ruling was appealed and with judgment no. 11225 of May 29th 2015, where the Supreme Court ruled on both the extension of the effects of the conviction limited to the Italian territory and on the non-recognition of the infringement of the moral copyright, considering that the latter should instead have been recognized .
In particular, the Supreme Court held that the reasoning of the Court of Appeal of Rome was apodictic when it assessed as insufficient the evidence put forward in support of the moral damage suffered by the authors in their documents, reiterating the well-known principle, therefore also applicable to the infringement of moral copyright, according to which, in the event of an ascertained infringement of the same, the damage suffered by the author must be considered in re ipsa and as such must be demonstrated only in its extent, without the plaintiff being required to prove anything else. According to the Supreme Court, the "artistic frustration" complained of and suffered by authors as a result of plagiarism is sufficient to justify the claim for compensation for the moral right.
In 2018, the Court of Appeal of Rome issued a judgment prohibiting Prince's heirs from any further reproduction of the song "The most beautiful girl in the world" and, on the basis of the referral of the Supreme Court, sentenced them, to pay the sum of EUR 40,000.00 each, calculated on an equitable basis, plus interest for moral compensation.
This seemed to be the end of the matter, but the heirs of the famous pop star challenged the decision again, complaining - as far as is relevant here - of the incorrect application of the rules on moral copyright: this last appeal was entirely rejected by the Supreme Court in its recent ruling, which confirmed the accuracy of the argument followed by the Court of Appeal in settling damages for breach of moral copyright.
The judgment, which definitively closes the case of The Most Beautiful Girl in the World, concerns not only the already widely recognized right of the judge to settle the damage, including moral damage, resulting from copyright infringement on an equitable basis, but above all. the sure connection that can and must exist - says the Court - between the extent of moral damage (and the relative compensation) and the space-time dimensions of the plagiaristic conduct, and therefore, ultimately, of diffusion and success of the infringing work.