holydarkness, although you wasted a lot of perfectly good words on this case, I think you nailed it!

I just wanted to add my thoughts on this:
I am not sure with how it goes in Italy, but I know a lot of --if not most, or even every-- countries apply this rule.
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Last time I checked, Italy was still a member of the European Union, so for all intents and purposes, I believe this applies:
How to obtain copyright protection
If you create literary, scientific and artistic work, you automatically have copyright protection, which starts from the moment you create your work, so you don't need to go through any formal application process.
https://europa.eu/youreurope/business/running-business/intellectual-property/copyright/index_en.htm~
I like your argument and congratulate you on your work, but I would like people to understand that common sense often prevails over many things.
You seem to be shifting your arguments a bit here, don't you? The common sense in this case is that you cannot just take someone else's work and present it as your own. But I bet that you knew this all along, so all this discussion was unnecessary.