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Egypt to Copyright Pyramids and Sphynx

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the and-for-my-next-trick dept.

empaler writes "We all know the usual pro-copyright arguments. Most of them hinge on the fact that the individual or company that has a copyright needs an incentive to make something that is copyrightable, and therefore ensure a revenue stream in a period after the copyright has been granted. In a never-surpassed move, Egypt is working on legislation to extend copyright well above 3000 years — they are going to start claiming royalties for using likenesses of the Sphynx and the Pyramids. It is still unclear whether the original intent of the Pyramids included 'making sure them bastards pay for a plastic copy in 3000 years' alongside 'securing a pathway to the heavens for the God King.' Speaking as a Greenlandic national, I want dibs on ice cubes." It sounds straight out of The Onion, but instead you can read another story on the BBC.

31 of 393 comments (clear)

  1. Take this Egypt! by Slashdot+Suxxors · · Score: 5, Funny

    /_\
    Can't stop me from making pyramids!

    1. Re:Take this Egypt! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      That's a trapezoid, you geometrically challenged clod!

    2. Re:Take this Egypt! by ShieldW0lf · · Score: 4, Funny

      I think Canada should get a copyright on beavers.

      Pay up, Mr. Flynt!

      --
      -1 Uncomfortable Truth
    3. Re:Take this Egypt! by Flodis · · Score: 3, Funny

      -- as long as they don't make exact copies.
      Darn.

      Anyone need 6000000 tons of giant stone blocks? Real cheap. Was to be used in pyramid project that never got off the ground.
  2. Eh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Ice cubes? We have prior art on that.

    -- Canada

  3. US Treasury is Effed by longacre · · Score: 5, Funny

    How much are the royalties going to be for each dollar bill in circulation?

    --
    Airplane Photos, Airline News, Planespotting Guides
    1. Re:US Treasury is Effed by SailorSpork · · Score: 5, Funny

      Oh come on, the pyramids on the dollar bill is obviously fair use: parody! I mean, look at the giant floating eyeball on top of it! I roll over with laughter every time I see that thing...

    2. Re:US Treasury is Effed by Ignis+Flatus · · Score: 5, Funny

      How much are the royalties going to be for each dollar bill in circulation?
      that's a recursion problem, because we'll just print more dollars to pay the bill. so the limit of, um, lemme see if i can find my old calculus book...
    3. Re:US Treasury is Effed by The+One+and+Only · · Score: 4, Funny

      That was sublicensed from the Masons.

      --
      In Repressive Burma, it's not just your connection that dies. slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=314547&cid=20819199
    4. Re:US Treasury is Effed by blind+monkey+3 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Floating eyeball? They are in direct violation of my IP by using a likeness of my "third eye" (patent pending), are there any lawyers....

      News Flash! Man trampled by ten thousand over excited lawyers. The lawyers were finally subdued whilst fighting over the man's bones (and wallet).

      --
      BM3
    5. Re:US Treasury is Effed by rubycodez · · Score: 5, Funny

      That's the All-Seeing Eye of Ra, and you've really pissed Him off with your flippancy. No solar power for j00.

    6. Re:US Treasury is Effed by Samarian+Hillbilly · · Score: 5, Funny

      They are also suing Israel in international court for all the gold they took out of Egypt during the Exodus. Israel has yet to counter-sue for back wages for slave-labor on the pyramids. I guess this is part of a general strategy by the Egyptian government to insure their revenue stream w/o engaging in productive activity. They learned from SCM and Apple Core.

    7. Re:US Treasury is Effed by Alsee · · Score: 2, Funny

      No solar power for j00.

      That'll tech us a lesson!

      P.S.
      Superman just mooned the All-Seeing Eye of Ra, please don't punish him with "No kryptonite for j00!"

      -

      --
      - - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
    8. Re:US Treasury is Effed by Antique+Geekmeister · · Score: 3, Funny

      Hurray for the Sun God!
      He is the One God!

      Ra!! Ra!! Ra!!

    9. Re:US Treasury is Effed by poot_rootbeer · · Score: 4, Funny

      That's the All-Seeing Eye of Ra, and you've really pissed Him off with your flippancy. No solar power for j00.

      Being that it was Teh j00s that actually BUILT the pyramids, I think it's only fair that the copyright on them should revert into their hands.

  4. Copyright extension in reverse...? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    What will they call it? The Sun God Bono Copyright Term Extension Act?

  5. Fuck! by Junior+J.+Junior+III · · Score: 5, Funny

    There goes my plans to get rich quickly by making copies of pyramids and sphinxes and selling them on the street for way lower than the original pyramid and sphinx.

    --
    You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
    1. Re:Fuck! by modecx · · Score: 2, Funny

      Well, at any rate, the Luxor Hotel and Casio just might be getting a big bill here pretty soon. Wonder who's bill collectors are most ehm... dedicated?

      --
      Constitutional rights may be respected, repealed, or modified; but they must never be ignored.
  6. They can choose to copyright... by brxndxn · · Score: 4, Funny

    ..and the rest of us can choose to ignore their absurdity.

    I want to make a point.. But.. how the fuck can I make an mp3 of the Sphinx?

    --
    --- We need more Ron Paul!
  7. Re:good idea, bad implementation by Spy+der+Mann · · Score: 4, Funny

    Regional designations. OK. So if it's egyptian, it's pyramids. If it's foreign, it's "squared-based volumes with triangular walls". Hey, it works for champagne and tequila :D

  8. Re:So where does this leave the jews? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    They built them perhaps, but they didn't design them. Slave labour requires no contract and technically it could be considered as Volunteer labour. So arguing whether the jews should get a piece is redundant.

    I am more interested in where this might leave Extraterrestrials.

  9. Re:At least pay the royalties to the right person by nospam007 · · Score: 2, Funny

    I'm sure they could put those royalties to good use in the afterlife.

    You mean royalties to the Royalties, dead or alive..

  10. Re:So where does this leave the jews? by ScrewMaster · · Score: 4, Funny

    I am more interested in where this might leave Extraterrestrials.

    Yeah, right. Are you going to tell a Goa'uld mothership that it can't land because it would be violating your copyright?

    --
    The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
  11. This is... by UnCivil+Liberty · · Score: 5, Funny

    a total pyramid scheme...

    --
    Distributed proteome folding @ WorldCommunityGrid.org
    Team Slashdot - Members:#1 Run Time:#1 Points:#1 Results:#1
  12. Criminal Charges by DynaSoar · · Score: 4, Funny

    The original owners were the pharaoh era royalty. The present government does not derive directly from the royal line. Therefore to claim ownership rights on property not rightfully theirs is to deprive the original owners of their ownership.

    It's stealing. Lock the bastards up. Call the PIAA (Pyramid Industry Association of Assholes).

    --
    "I may be synthetic, but I'm not stupid." -- Bishop 341-B
  13. In other news, by some+old+guy · · Score: 2, Funny

    Vatican to copyright God, film at 11.

    --
    Scruting the inscrutable for over 50 years.
  14. Re:It's Sphinx by Antibozo · · Score: 2, Funny

    [Note: this comment contains Unicode Greek characters, but they are not rendering in my browser for some reason. This takes a lot of the fun out of it. There are two Greek words in the next paragraph that you may be unable to see. Slashdot folks: bug?]

    Fun fact: Sphinx is from Greek "", transliterated "sphiggo", pronounced "sphingo"—a verb meaning "to squeeze or throttle". "The Sphinx" literally means "The Throttler", which sounds like a villain from Batman. This same root figures prominently in another English word, the one derived from Greek "", transliterated "sphigktér".

    One wonders if the Egyptians are perhaps taking this root meaning a little too literally.

  15. Re:Firehose is weird by Hognoxious · · Score: 2, Funny

    Remember, it's not accuracy that gets you on Slashdot, it's the ability to distort and misinterpret a story so it will generate the most page views that counts.
    Being called Roland Piquepaille helps too.
    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  16. Re:SCO II by Hognoxious · · Score: 3, Funny

    Egypt and SCO have teamed up, and claim that Linux contains copyrighted ancient hieroglyphs.
    I never knew it was written in perl!
    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  17. Oblig. Police Squad by sm62704 · · Score: 3, Funny

    "Nice beaver!"

    "Thanks, I just had it stuffed"

    --
    mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
  18. Re:Just like any other desperate move by Liquidrage · · Score: 2, Funny

    Great list! The US is just so evil. Thank God you can still go to Russia and China. Those are nice places with no current wars and great human rights and freedoms.