Don't Mess with David: Patrimonio Culturale and the Public Domain

• Pages: 32-36
• Date: 01 December 2026
• Published date: 01 December 2026
• Author: Eleonora Rosati
• Subject Matter: Derecho Constitucional

Published in Landslide, Volume 18, Number 2, 2026. © 2026 by the American Bar Association. Reproduced with permission. All rights

reserved. This information or any portion thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means or stored in an

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LANDSLIDE December/January 2026

32

Don’t Mess with David: Patrimonio Culturale and the Public

Domain

Eleonora Rosati

Any attempt to dene the phrase “cultural heritage” is riddled with difculties and ambiguities, considering that

the very notion of “culture” proves challenging to grasp even in its basic contours. That said, broadly speaking,

cultural heritage refers to things—whether tangible or intangible—that may be movable or immobile (as well

as underwater) and have artistic, historical, archaeological, ethnological/anthropological, scientic, and social value.1

It is expected that for things to ascend the status of cultural heritage, the passing of a rather significant period of time

post-creation is a given, with the result that “natural” forms of legal protection vested in them, such as copyright,

might have lapsed in the meantime.

But is cultural heritage ever in the public domain? Any answer in the affirmative would overlook both substantive

rights—including under intellectual property law (think of trademarks or geographical indications)—that are not

subject to the same expiration date as copyright, and other forms of legal protection that might have the practical

effect of preventing any actual fall into the public domain.

David Soanes Photography/Moment via Getty Images