Patent Law

Possessed by Possession: Egypt to Copyright Pyramids

By Les Weinstein, Michael Young, John Leo Wagner, Eric van Ginkel, and Victoria Pynchon

Wikimedia assures me this photograph is royalty free.  The pyramid it depicts?  Not so much.

Thanks again to Plagiarism Today's Saturday  Linkroll for this citation to the Christmas 2007 record:

Cairo - In a potential blow to themed resorts from Vegas to Tokyo, Egypt is to pass a law requiring payment of royalties whenever its ancient monuments, from the pyramids to the sphinx, are reproduced.

Zahi Hawass, the charismatic and controversial head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, told AFP on Tuesday that the move was necessary to pay for the upkeep of the country's thousands of pharaonic sites.

"The new law will completely prohibit the duplication of historic Egyptian monuments which the Supreme Council of Antiquities considers 100-percent copies," he said.

"If the law is passed then it will be applied in all countries of the world so that we can protect our interests," Hawass said.

Read on here.

Also noted at Overlawyered and Likelihood of Confusion, the latter noting the jurisdictional rule of what-happens-in-Vegas . . . . etc. . . .

Full post as published by IP ADR Blog on December 29, 2007 (boomark / email).