More re Egypt plans to copyright antiquities

UsefulArts (Online Law for Online Marketing - Brandon Lovested)

Let’s begin with the purpose of the royalty. I have a problem with the concept of preserving antiquities. How do you maintain a ruin? Do you restore it to its original glory, or keep it in a stasis of decay? Will the money fund restoration, or teams of expert workers skilled in the art of distressing buildings, like so many set designers at a Disney theme park?

If the proposed royalty covers only exact replicas, then what incentive would anyone have to make one? What constitutes an exact replica? If someone created a reproduction of the Pyramids at Giza, would they be subject to royalty payments if they made it as it looks now, or when it was built — painted white with a golden capstone? If I built Sphinxes with noses, would I therefore not have to pay up?

Beyond the law’s obvious lack of enforceability, the precedent set would be lunacy. Other countries would demand royalties for their antiquities: Italy would receive royalties for likenesses of the Coliseum, and the United Kingdom would get paid for Stonehenge reproductions. I suppose America could get royalties for poseable Andy Rooney inaction figures.

Geelong Advertiser

EGYPT'S plan to legally protect its ancient monuments from reproduction was like Italians trying to copyright pizza, Sphinx Hotel owner George Ramia said yesterday.

Mr Ramia said he would wait to see if he was contacted in regard to the 15m-high Sphinx polystyrene replica, which was built in 1998 to sit atop the Thompson Rd complex.

Monash University senior law lecturer Melissa de Zwart said it was unlikely Mr Ramia had anything to fear. ``They are going to have trouble copyrighting something that has been in existence for thousands of years,'' she said.

Dr de Zwart said while international laws existed to protect the names of regional produce such as Champagne and Camembert, such agreements were tied up with trade arrangements. ``Just because they pass a law in Egypt doesn't mean it is enforceable here,'' she said.

Dr de Zwart said reproductions of Egyptian monuments would also have to be deemed to be exact copies before they breached copyright.