The shooting in a public space implies, in most cases, incidental filming of intellectual creation works. The Romanian Copyright Act allows the reproduction, distribution or communication to the public of the image of a work of art, plastic art, photographic art or applied art, permanently located in public places, without the consent of the author, unless the image of the work is the main subject of such reproduction, distribution or communications and whether used for commercial purposes. If the work is in the private collection of a person or if it has been placed in the public only temporarily, then its reproduction in the film, distribution and communication to the public will only be made on the basis of the copyright holder’s agreement.
The law does not define the term “public places”, but will certainly be considered as public places: parks, streets or any other place where the public has access in the normal way.
Also, the law does not define the notion of “main topic” of reproduction, distribution or communication.
In our opinion, the qualification of the image of the work as the main subject of reproduction, distribution, communication must be made distinct, on a case-by-case basis. Therefore, the film frame in which the image of the work appears, both in quantitative and qualitative terms, will be analyzed.
If the film is for sale, then the use of the image of the work included in the film will be one for commercial purposes.
