http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7160057.stm

Egypt's MPs are expected to pass a law requiring royalties be paid whenever copies are made of museum pieces or ancient monuments such as the pyramids.

Zahi Hawass, who chairs Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, told the BBC the law would apply in all countries.

The money was needed to maintain thousands of pharaonic sites, he said.

Correspondents say the law will deal a blow to themed resorts across the world where large-scale copies of Egyptian artefacts are a crowd-puller.

Mr Hawass said the law would apply to full-scale replicas of any object in any museum in Egypt.

"Commercial use" of ancient monuments like the pyramids or the sphinx would also be controlled, he said.

"Even if it is for private use, they must have permission from the Egyptian government," he added.

But he said the law would not stop local and international artists reproducing monuments as long as they were not exact replicas.

The Luxor hotel in the US city of Las Vegas would also not be affected because it was not an exact copy of a pyramid and its interior was completely different, Mr Hawass told AFP news agency.

But he said claims by the hotel that it was "the only pyramid-shaped building in the world" could no longer be made.

The announcement came two days after an Egyptian newspaper called on the hotel to pay a share of its profits to the central Egyptian city of Luxor, which administers the ancient Valley of the Kings burial site.

I'd love to see them try to enforce such a law.

I don't think Egypt understands how international law works.

That's almost like copyrighting a shape...

Ridiculous!

Adler

Correct me if I'm wrong but even in this Disney-controlled age of copyright, there is still a time limit for when one may exist.

"Even if it is for private use, they must have permission from the Egyptian government," he added.


Damn, i think ill need to postpone my Pyramids project for a while :(.

Correct me if I'm wrong but even in this Disney-controlled age of copyright, there is still a time limit for when one may exist.


Oh, the egyptians just have to bribe politicians to make it the life of the creator plus 5000 years... of course, they would still have to show who built the damn things, or some people would be trying to pay royalties to aliens :lol:

its an ancient conspiracy, no doubt.

Such a thing is ridiculous. I ever found Hawass very, well, aggressive. But this time he is trying to do something which is only showing his stubborness and dictatorship like leading style. What he says is law in things of antiquities in Egypt. If he is favouring something then it will be done, if not, bad luck. Despite the arguments for or against it.
As long as he is in Egypt he can act like he wants. But out of Egypt? I don't think any US or German or Japanese police officer or judge would act because of Egyptian laws against copyright violations of the pyramids! That is ridiculous. Also I doubt it will be possible to enforce it really in Egypt as well.

Adler

Such a thing is ridiculous. I ever found Hawass very, well, aggressive. But this time he is trying to do something which is only showing his stubborness and dictatorship like leading style. What he says is law in things of antiquities in Egypt. If he is favouring something then it will be done, if not, bad luck. Despite the arguments for or against it.
As long as he is in Egypt he can act like he wants. But out of Egypt? I don't think any US or German or Japanese police officer or judge would act because of Egyptian laws against copyright violations of the pyramids! That is ridiculous. Also I doubt it will be possible to enforce it really in Egypt as well.

Adler

Quite so.

But when the Western corporations try to progress copyright infringements in Egyptian courts or via the WTO etc, the Egyptian judges or delegates will just say that as the West does not recognise Egyptian copyright, they will not enforce western copyright.

After all if MS can provide an extract from the Egyptian book of the dead
with its software without paying Egypt anything, why should the Egyptians pay for MS licences?

Because the guy writing the Book of death is dead for a long time. There is no copyright on ancient things. They are open for everyone. Otherwise it would become ridiculous.

Adler

Because the guy writing the Book of death is dead for a long time. There is no copyright on ancient things. They are open for everyone. Otherwise it would become ridiculous.

Adler

Yes. It is ridiculous. But US owners of originally foreign artificacts and of images of such claim copyright on such images and US copyright owners want to make copyright operate in perpetuity. Egypt are countering.

I believe EdwardTking could well be right. US copyright is one of the legal areas where there could well be trouble brewing with large chunks of the rest of the world.

With something as sexy as the iconic looks of Ancient Egypt, if the Egyptian government doesn't make a bloody heavy and outrageously public claim on this stuff, someone else will likely regard it as an invitation.

But it would be interesting to find some kind of specific story to corroberate suspiscions here.

I thought after 100 years or so after something was made people were free to do what they want with it.

To be fair, stolen antiquities should be returned in full to Egypt, in particular from UK, France, Germany, Italy, Turkey, USA and Russia. However, Egypt got a ridiculously weak patent ratio, with less patents for Egypt than little Sunnyvale in California. So, I dismiss regional patents (but regional designs could be protected, if it is an exact brand, but who is going to build a full-sized pyramid anyways, with the labor rights we have these days) as well as ancient patents, but also imply that stolen artifacts are returned, in which there is no timer clause for obsolete claims.

I don't think Egypt understands how international law works.

Eh. There are plenty of Egyptians who do. They just don't run the government.

Egypt is an absolutist kleptocracy run by washed-up brain-dead junior officers propped up by American aid. If there's a harebrained scheme to make money, the Egyptian government will find it. And Egyptians really don't give a damn. We've survived five thousand years of nasty government; incompetent government is an amusing change of scene.

To be fair, stolen antiquities should be returned in full to Egypt, in particular from UK, France, Germany, Italy, Turkey, USA and Russia.

No, they should be able to pay for the antiquities if they want, just to be fair. If all Egyptian antiquities were in Egypt, there would probably be less interest in them (since you'd have to pay so much and go so far, instead of simply driving to the Museum 10 minutes away).

I thought it was common knowledge the US invaded Iraq so they could patent the wheel?