This is one of several publications on the subject on the book market, and should not be confused with the Libro d'Oro della Nobiltà italiana (official register) compiled by the Consulta Araldica (Heraldic Council) of the Kingdom of Italy.
[6][7] In 2005, Roberto Colonnello Bertini Frassoni, 'in his own name and as the owner of the individual firm of the same name' and also in his capacity as Segretario generale del Collegio Araldico (Secretary General of the Heraldic College), sued Andrea Borella complaining that the defendant, in his capacity as editor and publisher of the 'new series' of the 'Annuario della Nobiltà italiana' (Yearbook of the Italian Nobility), would unlawfully have extracted and reused for that editorial activity a substantial part of the contents of the "Libro d'Oro della Nobiltà italiana (Golden Book of the Italian Nobility) and also slavishly copied numerous parts of the Golden Book, thereby infringing the plaintiff's sui generis right as producer of the database and, at the same time, the copyright of the publication in question as a literary work.
The Secretary General of the Collegio Araldico, Roberto Colonnello, asked the Court to establish these alleged infringements and to issue the necessary injunctions and sanctions, including the destruction of the all printed copies and the withdrawal of the Annuario from the book market.
[8] The verdict was followed by a series of events which, in less than two years, led to the closure of the Heraldic College and to Colonnello Bertini Frassoni's resignation from the management of the Golden Book of the Nobility.
[15][16] Despite what is stated on the website and in these books, these are only a small part of the families registered in the official lists of the Kingdom of Italy, i.e. those who have sent their updated personal data to the Heraldic College by following the proposal to purchase the work; to these must be added some families recognised by the Association of the Corpo della Nobiltà Italiana, by the Sovereign Military Order of Malta or by the Republic of San Marino.
[20] However, the series has already been resumed since 2014 by Ettore Gallelli Editore, with the publication in March 2014 of a new edition of the Golden Book, the XXV since its foundation in 1910[21] and the creation of a new 'Collegio Araldico' based in Rome, the old one having been dissolved four years earlier.
by Ettore Gallelli publishing house (2014-): In the first months of 2014, at the insistence of some members of the defunct Collegio Araldico, before located in via Santa Maria dell'Anima, 16, the Ettore Gallelli Publishing House has regularised, in accordance with the law, the title Libro d'Oro della Nobiltà italiana (GOLDEN BOOK OF ITALIAN NOBILITY - NEW CURRENT SERIES), with deposits and variations at the competent legal offices, registering it at the General Public Office for Works Protected by Copyright,[23] thus acquiring all the exclusive editorial, graphic and typographic rights of series and launched the new series at the end of July 2014 with the XXV edition (2015–2019).
[24] According to the publisher's website the Gallelli-EDITORE "is therefore the only one authorised by the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities to use the name Libro d'Oro della Nobiltà Italiana - nuova serie corrente,.
[29][30] At present, while Ettore Gallelli Editore, which guaranteed absolute freedom of access from the beginning of the second series, has continued along the path of absolute free of charges of access to the entries in the Golden Book of the Nobility that it publishes, instead the Libro d'Oro srl has introduced a series of charges for those who wish to publish substantial information in the work.
[32] The right to continue publishing has been the subject of a legal dispute by a competitor[33] and on other part by Avvocatura dello Stato (State Attorney's Office) from 2015.
[34] On 20 September 2018, on the initiative of the Direzione generale degli Archivi di Stato, which is subordinated to the Ministero dei Beni e delle Attività Culturali e del Turismo (Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism), the UAMI, the Office for Market Harmonisation, now the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), based in Alicante (Spain),[35] cancelled the registration of a trademark called Libro d'Oro della Nobiltà italiana, registered by a private association.