More re copyrighting the pyramids

NBC4i Straight Answers

Q. I heard that Egypt has copyrighted the pyramids, the Sphinx, and other antiquities. Is this true? If so, what does that mean for artists who have already used images of the pyramids in their work? - A.F.

A. Late last year, news media around the world reported that Zahi Hawass, the head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, had proposed such a law. Hawass said that it would raise money that could be used to preserve the monuments.

But as he described the law, it would apply to "exact copies" of the pyramids or other antiquities, not to artists' interpretations of them.

Hawass was quoted as saying that the law "does not forbid local or international artists from profiting from drawings and other reproductions of pharaonic and Egyptian monuments from all eras - as long as they don't make exact copies. Artists have the right to be inspired by everything that surrounds them, including monuments."

For example, Hawass said that the pyramid-shaped Luxor hotel in Las Vegas would not fall under the law, because the interior does not duplicate that of an Egyptian pyramid. But the Luxor's King Tut exhibit probably would.

But so far all of this is just talk. Egypt's parliament would have to pass the law for it to take effect, and that action has not been reported. Even if Egypt passes the law, it is unclear whether it would be enforceable, since it would be very different from any other standing copyright laws in place around the world.

The Las Vegas Sun newspaper quoted a copyright lawyer, Mark Tratos, as saying: "It's an interesting proposition - to retroactively create an intellectual property right in history. It's novel for a government to say that they're not going to focus upon rewarding creativity now, but are going to take advantage of the creativity of centuries and millennium past. It really is unprecedented for anyone to be able to say that they own something like this."