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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.

22 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. 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 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.

    5. 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.

    6. Re:US Treasury is Effed by Antique+Geekmeister · · Score: 3, Funny

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

      Ra!! Ra!! Ra!!

    7. 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.

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

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

  4. 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!
  5. 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!
  6. 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

  7. 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.

  8. 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.
  9. This is... by UnCivil+Liberty · · Score: 5, Funny

    a total pyramid scheme...

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  10. 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
  11. 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."
  12. 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